The legacy of artists in National Parks goes all the way back to Thomas Moran, whose paintings of Yellowstone helped incite its park status in 1872.
Source: Can Artists Help Preserve New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon?
Pueblo Alto Trail provides look into the past with panoramic views of Chaco Canyon complex; Glen Rosales; Albuquerque Journal
Pueblo Alto Trail provides look into the past with panoramic views of Chaco Canyon complex…
Source: Pueblo Alto Trail provides look into the past with panoramic views of Chaco Canyon complex
3 reasons to protect Greater Chaco Canyon from oil and gas drilling; Carla Ruas; Wilderness Society
Checkerboard complicates effort to protect sacred sites; Susan Montoya Bryan & Felicia Fonseca; AP
A campaign to curb drilling in one of the nation’s oldest oil and gas-producing basins is complicated by a patchwork of land ownership.
Source: Checkerboard complicates effort to protect sacred sites
A Fracking Boom Ransacks the Four Corners; Tim Vanderpool; NRDC
Native American activists in northwest New Mexico are putting up a firm resistance as the U.S. Bureau of Land Management hands over their homeland to allies in the oil and gas industry.
Chaco Canyon at Risk: Interior Nominee Bernhardt Wants to Drill on Lands Sacred to Tribes; Adam Markham; UCSUSA
What’s happening under Bernhardt’s watch in northwestern New Mexico illustrates in microcosm why he is perhaps the worst possible choice for the job as top steward of our public lands.
Source: Chaco Canyon at Risk: Interior Nominee Bernhardt Wants to Drill on Lands Sacred to Tribes
BLM to issue oil leases on land near sacred site; Noel Kirkpatrick; MNN
Land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico is scheduled to go up for sale in March.
This New Mexico Hotel Was Designed to Mimic a Nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site; Elizabeth Stamp; Architectural Digest
Designed by Gensler, the Hotel Chaco in Albuquerque, New Mexico, allows guests to enjoy a space that was inspired by centuries-old Puebloan culture…
Source: This New Mexico Hotel Was Designed to Mimic a Nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site
Surely Not Every Piece of American Land Deserves an Oil Derrick; Jack Holmes; Esquire
The Trump administration moves to allow oil and gas exploration near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
Source: Surely Not Every Piece of American Land Deserves an Oil Derrick
Feds move ahead with oil and gas leases near World Heritage site; Karen Graham; Digital Journal
U.S. land managers will move forward in March with the sale of oil and gas leases that include land near Chaco Culture National Historical Park and other sites sacred to Native American tribes.
Source: Feds move ahead with oil and gas leases near World Heritage site
The mystery of Chaco Canyon; KD Leperi; Pique News Magazine
Source: The mystery of Chaco Canyon
Celebrating Chaco Canyon — a living, breathing museum; Paul F Reed; Santa Fe New Mexican
On April 18, International Day for Monuments and Sites, people from around the world honored cultural and historical treasures that helped shape and continue to guide and inform societies.
These are the places that represent significant eras or events in human history and are so special that they are protected for future generations to learn from and enjoy. Here in Northern New Mexico, we don’t need to look far to find a place that could be the “poster child for this day” — Chaco Canyon.
Greater Chaco is one of just 22 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country. The area contains ecologically, culturally, spiritually and economically significant public lands. The San Juan Basin was the center of Puebloan culture and economic life, and holds thousands of archaeological sites — some of which are more than 12,000 years old. Over many generations, Puebloan people built great houses, astronomical observation sites and ceremonial kivas throughout the Four Corners region. Today, these sites continue to be places of prayer, pilgrimage and a living connection to generations past.
Chaco Canyon was first designated as a national monument by Republican President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907.
Read more from source: Celebrating Chaco Canyon — a living, breathing museum
An Introduction to Chaco Canyon; Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank; Brewminate
New Mexico is known as the “land of enchantment.” Among its many wonders, Chaco Canyon stands out as one of the most spectacular. Part of Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Chaco Canyon is among the most impressive archaeological sites in the world, receiving tens of thousands of visitors each year. Chaco is more than just a tourist site however, it is also sacred land. Pueblo peoples like the Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni consider it a home of their ancestors.
The canyon is vast and contains an impressive number of structures—both big and small—testifying to the incredible creativity of that people who lived in the Four Corners region of the U.S. between the 9th and 12th centuries. Chaco was the urban center of a broader world, and the ancestral Puebloans who lived here engineered striking buildings, waterways, and more.
Chaco is located in a high, desert region of New Mexico, where water is scarce. The remains of dams, canals, and basins suggest that Chacoans spent a considerable amount of their energy and resources on the control of water in order to grow crops, such as corn.
Read more from source: An Introduction to Chaco Canyon
Zinke puts oil, gas lease sale near Chaco Canyon on hold; Andy Stiny; The New Mexican
Amid strong tribal, environmental and Congressional pushback to a planned oil and gas lease sale next week near Chaco Canyon, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has deferred action pending further study on possible cultural impacts from the sale.
“After hearing from Tribes, Senators Udall and Heinrich , historic preservation experts, and other stakeholders, I’ve decided to defer the sale,” Zinke said in a news release issued by the federal Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the lease areas. “I’ve always said there are places where it is appropriate to develop and where it’s not. This area certainly deserves more study.”
The agency has received 120 protests against the sale.
Chaco was one of the nation’s first national monuments created under President Theodore Roosevelt’s 1906 Antiquities Act, meant to stop the plundering of ancient sites.
The BLM will now “complete an ongoing analysis of more than 5,000 cultural sites in the proposed leasing area,” the agency said in deferring the planned March 8 sale.
Source: Zinke puts oil, gas lease sale near Chaco Canyon on hold
Best National Park Service Sites for History Buffs; Bram; Go 4 Travel Blog
The American National Park Service doesn’t only manage the national parks, which are by all accounts the stars of their shows. They do also take care of a bunch of other sites all over the country. This includes, for example, 10 national seashores, 3 national scenic trails, 20 national memorials, 15 national rivers, 25 national military or battlefield parks, and no fewer than 125 national historic sites and historical parks. The grand total of official National Park Service sites is 417. In this post we’ll zoom in on the latter—the national historical parks. These are without question the best National Park Service sites for history buffs.
Top 7 Best National Park Service Sites for History Buffs
First off, let’s make it clear that the following is a very limited (and arbitrary) top 7 list of the best National Park Service sites for history lovers. After all, when picking only five out of more than several dozens, there’s bound to be some awesome ones that are left out. That said, though, the following sites are among the most significant in the entire USA.
Source: Best National Park Service Sites for History Buffs | Go 4 Travel Blog
Oil and Gas Drilling Encroaches on Chaco Canyon; Justin Housman; adventure journal
More drilling leases proposed for the Greater Chaco Region, one of the world’s most astonishing archaeological sites.
More than 1,000 years ago, ancient Pueblans built fantastic complexes of great houses with hundreds of rooms, ceremonial temples, sophisticated solar art installations, and long, flat roads radiating out from the center of their civilization in Chaco Canyon, in what is today northwestern New Mexico. They built their city from rough-hewn sandstone and timber and it lasted for over 200 years before, it is thought, drought and eventual food shortages brought the Chaco Culture to its knees, causing a great emigration. The area surrounding Chaco Canyon is one of North America’s most important and cherished archaeological sites, with a great deal left to uncover, explore, and learn from.
Modern Albuquerque hotel pays homage to ancient Chaco Canyon; Judith Fein; Dallas News
ALBUQUERQUE — Something unusual has happened here. Before the luxury Hotel Chaco opened a few months ago, the architects went to Chaco Culture National Historical Park a few hours away to camp and experience the UNESCO World Heritage site.
They returned from the trip to one of the most significant native American archaeological finds in North America inspired by the stonework, low doorways, round ceremonial kivas, niches, stairways and celestial alignments. They poured their learning about the sacredness and importance of the ancient city into the plans for the hotel and designed a paean to ancient Chaco Canyon.
The breath and spirit of the ancestors are still there, and native tribes still go to honor those who came before them at the remote place in the Four Corners region where they lived, worshiped, traded and influenced a wide swath of the prehistoric world.
Tribes ask feds to halt drilling leases in Chaco region; Rebecca Moss; The New Mexican
Leaders of a dozen New Mexico pueblos are asking the federal government to stop all new oil and gas development near sacred sites surrounding the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, following the recent announcement of a preliminary plan by the Bureau of Land Management to lease thousands of acres in the region in early 2018.
The All Pueblo Council of Governors, in a resolution signed last week, said it is asking the BLM and Bureau of Indian Affairs to halt any further drilling leases and permits in northwestern New Mexico’s Greater Chaco Region, generally defined as the land lying within at least a 10-mile radius of the national park, as well as other areas holding cultural significance between the tiny Navajo communities of White Rock and Nageezi in San Juan County.
Archaeologists: More protections needed for Chaco region; AP
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Archaeologists, professors and other researchers on Friday called for more protections of an expansive area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park, saying increased oil and gas development has the potential to destroy parts of the landscape that could provide a better understanding of the ancient civilization that once inhabited the region.
In their report , the scientists point to new technology that has uncovered previously indiscernible sections of roads that connect sites throughout northwestern New Mexico to the heart of Chaco park. They say they have only begun using new satellite and laser-imaging tools to document the area and that more discoveries are possible.
Aside from actual archaeological sites that include stone structures and pottery sherds, the scientists say research also has provided insight into the importance of the landscape to whatever activities were drawing people to Chaco centuries ago.
Hotel Chaco: Old World Charm and Modern Amenities; Anca Gagiuc; CP Executive
The 118-key hotel, located adjacent to sister property Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town, features Native American art throughout the property as well as day trips to its namesake national monument.
After more than two years under construction, Hotel Chaco, the contemporary luxury hotel inspired by the architecture and ancient civilization of Chaco Canyon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, opened in Old Town Albuquerque, adjacent to sister property Hotel Albuquerque at Old Town.
The 118-key hotel consists of five levels and 25 different guest room configurations. Some extend outdoors onto terraces overlooking the Sandia Mountains and downtown skyline, while others look out onto the gardens and pool terrace below. Level 5, a rooftop restaurant and bar named in honor of Chaco Canyon’s legendary five-story Pueblo Bonito, features local ingredients and a native-inspired menu conceived by chef Mark Miller and Hotel Albuquerque Executive Chief Gilbert Aragon.
