It is now part of the Chaco Culture National Historic Park. The proposed lease sale, which includes 25 parcels covering 4,434 acres within New Mexico’s Rio Arriba, Sandoval and San Juan counties, has sparked an outcry from tribal officials and conservationists. This area certainly deserves more study.”President Theodore Roosevelt designated Chaco Canyon, which is owned and operated by the National Park Service, as a national monument under the Antiquities Act in 1907. Several experts said the interagency federal review of Greater Chaco Canyon would take at least another year. Kate P. Kelly, who directs the public lands program at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said in an email that the administration’s intensified focus on domestic energy production helps explain why Interior has not canceled the lease sale altogether.

Source: Washington Post March 02, 2018 21:24 UTC