Protecting the Chaco Protection Zone

Hi Friends,

As promised, here’s the video/audio (opens at YouTube) of Paul Reed’s recent interview with Four Corners KSJE host Scott Michlin, in which my friend and colleague fiercely defends the 10-mile protection zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The zone was created through Public Land Order 7923 in 2023.

We have more on this issue in today’s news digest, including an op-ed by Paul and Zuni cultural leader Octavius Seowtewa. Please read the headline summaries, click if you have time to read on, and be prepared to speak up during the very short proposed public comment period. We’ll keep you in the loop about how to do that.

Next, thanks to everyone who made their voices heard by formally commenting on the current administration’s move to rescind the Public Lands Rule (and thanks for countering the underlying claim that conservation, and we would add cultural preservation, are not aligned with the multiple-use mandate). The Center for Western Priorities has an analysis showing overwhelming support for retaining the Public Lands Rule. Again, we’ll keep you informed of your impacts and next steps.

Finally, a personal note to thank all of you who send in your news, events, opportunities, publications, and much more. I’ve been working on this (free to all) e-news-digest for 7+ years now, and it really does help to get information from you directly. I have Google alerts for keywords set up for this newsletter’s inbox, and we do try to keep track of everyone’s doings across social media. Still, curating and compiling this is a 5-hour labor of love across each week, and crowdsourcing from you all is a huge help. Keep it up!

Sincerely,

Kate Sarther, VP of Communications & Outreach, Archaeology Southwest

Continuing Coverage and Commentaries: Protecting the Chaco Protection Zone

1. Last week, the Department of the Interior (DOI) sent a letter to several Pueblos and Tribes requesting “Government-to-Government Consultation” on the agency’s intention to consider a “full revocation” of Public Lands Order (PLO) 7923, which protects the Greater Chaco Landscape from future oil and gas leasing on federal lands. …

The letter identifies “full revocation” as the “preferred” action, negating nearly a decade of meetings and compromises from dozens of Tribes that led to the 20-year mineral withdrawal within 10 miles surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park. DOI sent the letter while the government is shut down and as many Pueblos are preparing to select new leaders and are busy focusing on upcoming and sensitive cultural activities. Native Land Institute (press release) | Read more »

2. The expedited 14-day public input timeline is another example of the current administration’s attempts to jam ramped-up oil and gas and other mineral extraction through the system with as little public participation as possible.

The proposed revocation of the mineral withdrawal will be catastrophic for the protection of the park and the resources that lie within the 10-mile zone. …

The roads—and the places they connect with—form the Greater Chaco Landscape and retain great spiritual and cultural significance to modern-day Pueblo people. To Pueblo people, Chaco is not full of abandoned sites. Rather, Chaco is a living place, and Pueblo people revisit frequently to reconnect with their ancestral places and landscapes. Octavius Seowtewa and Paul Reed in the Santa Fe New Mexican | Read more »

3. In a letter Thursday, New Mexico’s congressional delegation continued exhorting U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to change course on plans to rescind federal protections around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. …

“We have invited you to follow in your predecessors’ footsteps and visit New Mexico to conduct robust Tribal consultation and community outreach before taking any action on the existing mineral withdrawal around Chaco,” the letter says. “Tribes are sovereign governments, and you have a legal trust obligation to Tribal leaders to operate with the highest responsibility and trust, which is not reflected by your expedited actions and unclear directions.” Source NM | Read more »

US Reassigns Cultural Heritage Investigators

[The administration] has disbanded its federal cultural property investigations team and reassigned the agents to immigration enforcement, delivering a blow to one of the world’s leaders in heritage protection and calling into question the future of America’s role in repatriating looted relics, according to multiple people familiar with the changes. …

“A few years ago, the United States led the world in restoring stolen history—and it mattered,” said Bradley Gordon, an American attorney who for years has represented the Cambodian government in its quest to reclaim its pillaged history from art museums, including Denver’s.

It’s a shame, he said, that federal agencies have stepped back, even as the Manhattan DA continues its work. “This work isn’t just about art; it’s about security, diplomacy and restoring dignity,” Gordon said. Sam Tabachnik for the Denver Post | Read more »

Commentary: An Experience at Bandelier National Monument

Located near Los Alamos, N.M., Bandelier is home to ancient Pueblo ruins. When we arrived, we were both ready to get our hiking boots on. However, the second we got to the park, I knew something was wrong. …

In Bandelier, the lack of funds was very apparent. The number of visitors, even at 9:30 a.m., overwhelmed the small number of rangers working. When we asked for a map, a ranger pleaded for us to return it when we were done—she told us they didn’t have enough money to print more. The situation has gotten worse since; because of the current government shutdown, the visitor’s center, park store, multiple trails and more are now all closed to the public. Sorsha Khitikian (Yurok Tribe) for Tufts Daily | Read more »

News and Commentary: Pearce Nominated to Head Bureau of Land Management

1. The nominee for the Bureau of Land Management, former Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico, must be confirmed by the Senate. The agency manages a quarter-billion acres—about 10% of land in the U.S. It’s also responsible for 700 million acres of underground minerals, including major reserves of oil, natural gas and coal. Matthew Brown and Morgan Lee for AP | Read more »

2. In 2014, he opposed former President Barack Obama’s designation of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in New Mexico, which had widespread public support in the region. He has said that the monument, which fell within his district, was too large. The protected area is now a major driver of tourism and income for the local community of Las Cruces. Kiley Price for Inside Climate News | Read more »

Podcast: A New Archive Tells the Story of Indigenous Slavery

With Philip J. Deloria, Theresa Pasqual, and Estevan Rael-Galvez. The Native Bound Unbound project includes interactive maps, digitized documents and recent interviews with descendants whose ancestors endured enslavement. The publicly available digital archive aims to document every instance of Indigenous slavery in the Western Hemisphere to illuminate where and when slavery took place, and the lasting effects for Indigenous communities and their descendants. Native America Calling | Listen now »

Call for Submissions: 2026 Julian D. Hayden Paper Competition

The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society and Arizona Archaeological Council sponsor the annual Julian D. Hayden Paper Competition, named in honor of long-time Southwestern scholar Julian Dodge Hayden. The winning entry will receive a cash prize of $1,000 and publication of the paper in Kiva, The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History.

The competition is open to any bona fide undergraduate and graduate students at any recognized college or university, as well as anyone who graduated within the last year. Co-authored papers will be accepted if all authors are students or have graduated within the last year. Deadline Jan. 6, 2026. AAHS and AAC | Learn more »

Call for Submissions: David R. Wilcox Archaeology Grant

By offering the Dr. David R. Wilcox Archaeology Grant to qualified applicants, the Verde Valley Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society seeks to increase the knowledge and application of Archaeology and Anthropology to university and college students.

The grant program is open to all Archaeology, Anthropology undergraduate and graduate students, or students in any discipline with an archaeology or anthropology component, at nationally accredited colleges and universities who wish to advance education, opportunity, and experience in these fields of study. VVAC | Learn more »

Publication Announcement: Projectile Points of New Mexico

Filled with historical details, measurements, defining attributes, age estimates, interpretations, references, and images, Projectile Points of New Mexico: 13,000 Years of Technological Innovation edited by Dr. Bradley J. Vierra and with many contributing authors and supporters, is graciously offered here courtesy of the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management, who provided the grant for production costs, New Mexico State University, who was responsible for the contract, and Statistical Research, Inc., who produced the volume. Archaeology Society of New Mexico | Download now (open access) »

November In-Person Lectures (Santa Fe NM)

Nov. 17, Brian Vallo (Pueblo of Acoma), Pathways and Intersections: A Journey of Leadership and Opportunity; Nov. 24, Wayne Yazza Jr. and Lt. Gov. Craig Quanchello (Picuris Pueblo), Picuris Pueblo: Looking Forward while Looking Back. $20, 6:00 p.m., Hotel Santa Fe. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »

Nov. 13 Online Event: Harmonizing Tradition

With Tash Terry (Diné) and Elena Higgins. Music serves as a living archive of culture, weaving stories, traditions, and spiritual wisdom across generations. In this insightful webinar, Terry and Higgins delve into the profound role of Navajo music in preserving history, identity, and the Diné philosophy of the “Beauty Way” (Hózhó Jígo). Just as archaeology uncovers the physical remnants of the past, traditional songs act as oral artifacts, capturing Indigenous worldviews, relationships with the environment, and the continuity of cultural heritage. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »

REMINDER: Nov. 14–15 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): AAHS Used Book Sale

The book sale supports the Arizona State Museum library and is one of their primary sources of funding. This year, we have received a large collection of books from retiring University of Arizona professors, including many on archaeozoology, human evolution, animal behavior, and Neolithic Europe. As always, we have a great selection of Southwest and world archaeology, Native American ethnology and culture, as well as books of general interest. Please join us and support the ASM library while enhancing your reading. Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the lawn in front of the Arizona State Museum (1013 E. University Ave). All remaining stock will be 1/2 price on Saturday from 12 to 3 p.m. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS) | Learn more »

REMINDER: Nov. 17 Online Event: Early First Millennium CE Farmers of the Southwestern Colorado Plateau

With Reuven Sinensky. For much of the past century archaeologists have endorsed a unidirectional model in which Ancestral Pueblo communities became increasingly invested in maize agriculture and more sedentary through time, and eventually, social, economic, and political differentiation between communities emerged. Few in-depth studies, however, have explored the foodways, material culture, or settlement patterns of contemporaneous, well-dated communities within a spatially restricted area during the early first millennium CE. In this presentation, Sinensky will discuss the results of recent fieldwork and collections-based research focused on 200–550 CE communities of the far southwestern Colorado Plateau. Results suggest that communities of this era were more dynamic than often portrayed and that key material and social changes adopted during the late 6th and 7th centuries have roots in earlier, diverse communities. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn more and register (free) »

REMINDER: Nov. 20 Online Event: An Expedition Torn Asunder: O’odham Responses to the Coronado Expedition

With Deni Seymour. Dr. Seymour’s research on the 1539–1542 Coronado expedition in southeastern Arizona has revealed how O’odham resistance helped bring an end to this episode of Spanish colonial exploration. Third Thursday Food for Thought series (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | Learn more and register (free) »

Nov. 21 Online and In-Person Event (Phoenix AZ): Updates on Research of the Leupp Isolation Center

With Davina Two Bears. Dr. Two Bears will give an update on the Leupp Isolation Center Community Accountable Archaeological Project. Old Leupp is a site of entwined histories of both the Navajo people and Japanese Americans. Our community accountable archaeological project seeks to understand and share these histories of assimilation in federal Indian boarding schools and Japanese American incarceration on Indigenous lands by the US government in the early 20th century. Available in-person and online. Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve (Arizona State University) | Learn more »

Davina Two Bears is a member of Archaeology Southwest’s Board of Directors.

Dec. 2 Online and In-Person (Tucson AZ) Event: Path of Light: Retracing the Expeditions of Charles L. Bernheimer

With Morgan Sjogren. In 1929, explorer Charles L. Bernheimer dreamed up a National Park proposal that may have prevented Glen Canyon Dam and protected the surrounding landscape. Inspired by a decade of expeditions in the Four Corners region, Bernheimer wanted to “do more than be a sightseeing tourist.” To contextualize past and present efforts to protect Glen Canyon, author Morgan Sjogren retraced Bernheimer’s more than 300-day-long Glen Canyon expedition, guided by historic journals and photographs. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Register to attend in person (free) » | Register to attend online (free) »