All About World Heritage Sites
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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
Land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico is scheduled to go up for sale in March.
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
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
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
Source: The mystery of Chaco Canyon
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
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
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
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
