Monday, May 25, 2026

Photo: The All Pueblo Council of Governors were in attendance at a press conference in Santa Ana Pueblo on Wednesday May 20, 2026 in support of Chaco Canyon making the list for America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. (Jeanette DeDios)

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has placed the Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape on this year’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

The nomination came from the All Pueblo Council of Governors, which supports the preservation and cultural significance of the landscape in the face of increasing threats.

KUNM’s Jeanette DeDios (Jicarilla Apache and Diné) has more.

On the lands of Santa Ana Pueblo, Council members highlighted their ancestral ties to the archaeological and cultural site.

Chaco features over 600 rooms built 1,200 years ago with precise geometric masonry and crafted without the use of metal tools.

This endangered listing comes after the Bureau of Land Management tried last year to revoke or modify a public order, that currently safeguards over 300 thousands acres of federal land from new oil and gas leasing for 20 years.

Pueblo of Acoma Gov. Charles Riley says there’s a cultural responsibility to Chaco Canyon.

“When we speak of Chaco, we are not merely speaking of ruins, we are speaking of the spirits of our ancestors, who are still present, still teaching, and still carrying and asking us to carry forward what they entrusted to us.”

Riley says the Pueblo of Acoma is not opposed to development.

“We are opposed to development that proceeds without meaningful consultation, without honest environmental review, and without regard for places that are irreplaceable.”

This year’s listing is the second time in 15 years that Chaco has been placed on the list.

This is the first year that the 11 sites nominated will receive a one-time grant of $25,000 from the National Trust to help with conservation efforts.

The council is asking the U.S. Department of Interior to stop the process of dismantling the public land order and make the current ten-mile buffer around Chaco permanent.

They are also asking members of the public to contact their Congress in support.

A number of Pueblo governors have reached out to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum through letters and invitations to visit Chaco, but he has not responded.

A tribe from the Four Corners region has inked a historic deal with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum advancing the Trump administration’s domestic energy agenda.

KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio has more.

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe in southwest Colorado has entered the first-ever Tribal Energy Resource Agreement (TERA), more than two decades after Congress enacted the law.

This allows the nearly 1,500 member tribe to handle its own business without obtaining expressed permission from the Interior Department.

Councilman Andrew Gallegos testified before Congress last month.

“Having the tribe regulate and be the one that oversees all of our compliances and makes us more sovereign as a tribe, and the economic value that it brings is the health and welfare of our membership.”

That will include the leasing of energy projects and issuing of right-of-ways on the 700,000 acre reservation near Durango.