(September 29, 2025)—There is no mistaking that protections for public lands, and even public lands themselves, are under attack.
You may have seen how the entire country came together to stop the sell-off of public lands from being added to the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” If so, you also saw that the vast majority of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum do not support privatizing our shared public lands. That’s a good thing.
Archaeology Southwest (ASW) advocates for the protection of public lands because there are archaeological sites all across our public lands, and especially in the Southwest. In fact, lands protected as national monuments, parks, and conservation areas were designated as such because they are ancestral homelands of today’s Tribal Nations, whose footprints remain there today in the form of archaeology.
ASW’s mission is to honor these places; using our voice to protect these lands is a part of that mission. We recognize that the perceived line between natural and cultural resources doesn’t exist; therefore, protecting lands means preserving sites that inform our sense of place and that Indigenous Peoples maintain deep connections to.
In this spirit I traveled to Washington DC for National Wilderness Week to speak directly to Congressional Representatives alongside 50 conservation organizations that make up the National Wilderness Coalition (NWC), of which ASW is a member. The National Wilderness Preservation System was created when the Wilderness Act of 1964 was signed into law. Today, that system comprises 762 Wilderness Areas totaling 111 million acres. That may sound like a lot of land, but it actually constitutes less than 2% of land in the 48 contiguous United States.
In the Act, wilderness is defined as:
“A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain … An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions…” (https://www.fws.gov/law/wilderness-act-1964 , accessed 09/23/25)
Although some folks might still think of “wilderness” this way, Indigenous Peoples and Tribes recognize that these places, just like all public lands, are in fact NOT “untrammeled by man.” We know that even if archaeology is not present in these places (but there often is), our ancestors still used these lands for medicine gathering, food gathering, hunting, and ceremony, and they are often considered sacred areas in our oral histories. Therefore, these places represent a part of how we form our spiritual relationships to place.
Today, given the reality of public lands being taken out of Tribes’ control as far as management is concerned, we recognize the importance of protecting these places as Wilderness Areas—but we also want a seat at the table with federal land management agencies to help care for these sacred lands. We know this is possible because it is already happening in various places across the country—and here in the Southwest, at Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni, and Chuckwalla National Monuments. All of these monuments have co-management plans with many Tribal Nations. Recently, the Tohono O’odham Nation forged co-management agreements for the Baboquivari Peak and Coyote Mountains Wilderness Areas.
For these reasons, I personally feel it is important to be part of a renewed wilderness movement that seeks to be more inclusive of Indigenous Peoples going forward.
My week in DC did focus a great deal on wilderness, but we also spoke about many other attacks on public lands, such as the “Fix” Our Forests Act (air quotes mine), the rescission of the Roadless Rule, the rescission of the Public Lands Rule, the sell-off of public lands, the undermining of Tribal Co-Management and Co-Stewardship, decreased funding for and staffing for land management agencies, and the supposed “energy emergency” declared by the current administration.
I had the honor of talking about all of these issues alongside six other Indigenous advocates. We met with the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian and Insular Affairs, where I was pleased to speak with two Indigenous staff members. Then we went over to the Senate Indian Affairs Committee where we also met Indigenous staffers. We also had time with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) staffers, one of whom is also Indigenous. We had other meetings, but I mention these specifically because it is inspiring to see Indigenous People in places of power where decisions that affect lands, waters, and Tribes are made.
We had the opportunity to visit the Navajo Nation’s Washington Office. I believe it is the first office in DC owned by a Tribe, and it was heartening to walk into a space that felt like a small piece of home in the middle of the country’s seat of power. We shared tea and coffee with the staff and even got to take home some cool swag.
NWC’s “Indigenous Committee,” of which I am a member, hosted a short “Indigenous Visibility Event” in front of the Capitol Building, at which Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) gave remarks about the importance of land protections. The goal was to publicly acknowledge some of the issues I mentioned above, as well as to hold space for Indigenous People working in conservation. If you’d like to view a recording of that event, you can find it at the National Wilderness Coalition Instagram page. We also attended a live recording of the Wild Idea Podcast’s Conversation with Senator Tina Smith (D-MN). That episode is now live; you can listen here.
To conclude, I wanted to share my experiences in DC to underscore that when the places, people, and values we hold dear are threatened, it is important to show up and use our voices to tell our representatives that one, we want to keep public lands in public hands, and two, that we are here to help them do so. I’d also like to emphasize that while this work can be very serious and has profound implications, it’s also okay to have fun while you carry it out. I encourage anyone who reads this to pay attention to the ongoing attacks on public lands and to find ways to get involved in the efforts to push back against those attacks, even if it is as simple as signing a petition or liking and sharing a social media post. Lastly, I want to thank my fellow NWC Indigenous Committee members and the NWC itself for organizing an effective week of lobbying. Ahéhee!
I loved reading this write up. Thank you Sky! Let’s encourage more tribes and tribal members to join The National Wilderness Coalition Indigenous Committee. Thank you to everyone out there working to protect Nature and Ancestral Lands and Waters. We LOVE U <3