bike seeds: Update on the fight for Chaco Canyon

Momoko, last week the Trump administration announced that they were giving Tribes and the public just 7 days to weigh in on their plan to revoke the 20-year oil and gas ban that protects New Mexico's Greater Chaco Region from industrial destruction. Thanks to supporters like you, we were able to mobilize quickly and drive more than 23,000 comments opposing any effort to remove or weaken protections for this beloved place.

Now we must keep up the pressure, because the Greater Chaco Region is a sacred, living cultural landscape of deep spiritual and historical importance to Indigenous communities across the Southwest. Roughly 90% of nearby public lands are already leased for drilling—and rolling back these protections would open the door to even more industrial damage, threaten community health, and put irreplaceable cultural sites, clean air and water, and the future of this ancestral landscape at risk.

One thing is clear: the fight to protect Greater Chaco and all our public lands is intensifying, and we need your help to meet this moment. Please make an emergency gift today and a generous donor will match every dollar 5X, up to $375,000, to power our work to defend public lands in the courts, in Congress and on the ground.

—The Wilderness Society

Dear Momoko,

The Trump administration is proposing to revoke the 20-year oil and gas ban in New Mexico's Greater Chaco Region. This move would be a devastating reversal of hard-won protections for one of the most sacred landscapes in the Southwest.

They're giving Tribes and the public just 7 days to respond. We need your voice now.

Tell the admin: Keep Greater Chaco protected!

In 2023, after decades of advocacy, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland protected public lands surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park from new oil and gas drilling and mining. The 20-year mineral withdrawal reflected the tireless calls of Pueblo, Hopi and other Tribes and Indigenous peoples to safeguard this sacred and culturally rich landscape.

Now, those protections are at risk, and this rushed process rides roughshod over impacted Pueblos, Tribes and local communities. Reopening Greater Chaco to more drilling would further endanger sacred sites, threaten clean air and water, and rob future generations of the freedom to experience this living, ancestral place.

With more than 90% of federally managed lands in the region already leased for extraction, we cannot afford to lose what remains.

Submit your message before April 7 to defend Greater Chaco. Tell them why you believe this place matters!

Thank you for your advocacy and support.

Sincerely,

The Wilderness Society

ACT NOW