Bureau of Land Management

A newly released report shows widespread livestock grazing is destroying streamside habitats in New Mexico and Arizona.

Before the pandemic, the site was getting more than 100,000 visitors a year, disrupting Pueblo life. After the monument closed for the pandemic, Cochiti Pueblo and the BLM sat down to negotiate a new way for visitors to come. More than four years later, a trial period begins.

The BLM has always leased land for things like oil and gas and grazing. Now it will sell leases for conservation, too.

The new rule by the Bureau of Land Management will protect land considered sacred by Pueblos — and used by wildlife — from development by gravel miners.

This spring, a much-anticipated and widely praised rule will fundamentally transform how 245 million acres of public lands across the U.S. is managed to emphasize conservation and wider public access.

The Bureau of Land Management has proposed comprehensive changes to its rules for oil and gas leasing on federal land for the first time since 1988. The revision is designed to increase industry returns for taxpayers while also reducing harm to wildlife and cultural resources as part of the agency’s effort to better balance development with conservation. New Mexicans are invited to attend an information session in Albuquerque Tuesday to learn more about it ahead of submitting input.

The Bureau of Land Management has announced it’s canceling its controversial plan to spray the Rio Chama watershed with 670 gallons of a toxic insecticide –– for now.

Pressure from northern New Mexico residents and conservationists has forced the U.S. Department of Agriculture to delay its plans to spray 25,000 acres of the Rio Chama watershed with toxic pesticides known as “carbaryl.” The spray is now set for July 7th, but opponents are now pushing to cancel the plan indefinitely.

The proposed rule says that public lands have been degraded and fragmented due to the effects of climate change and an increase in authorized use. It proposes a number of changes to prioritize conservation.

The Bureau of Land Management is set to auction off over 3200 acres of New Mexico’s land to oil and gas companies after public comment expires in early February. Amid a growing climate crisis, environmentalists are voicing their concerns with this expansion in fossil fuel development in the southwest.