Chaco Culture National Historical Park

Former Acoma Pueblo Governor Brian Vallo talks with New Mexico In Focus correspondent Antonia Gonzales about the cultural significance of Chaco Canyon to his pueblo in the wake of new protections around the site from oil and gas development.

The ancient site is known for large-scale structures like multi-story buildings and partially subterranean kivas, built out of more than 200,000 huge logs. There is no evidence people who lived in the area at the time had draft animals or even wheels. So how did they get there?

A report from the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks sounds the alarm on harm from oil and gas development on four national parks, calling on the federal government to do more to protect them. Half of the parks are in New Mexico, the second-leading oil-producing state in the country.

A proposal from the oil and gas industry to set up a 75-person “man camp” in the Greater Chaco area has advocates and environmentalists up in arms about the impacts it could have on the land and on rates of sexual violence in the region.

State health officials are encouraging the immunization of children against flu and COVID-19 without making changes to its list of other vaccines required for school entry in the fall of 2023.

KUNM Call In Show 2/12 8a: Oil and gas development may be moving closer to Chaco Canyon National Historical Park and the many tribal communities in…

The oil and gas industry in New Mexico is a big deal. It supports the state budget with hundreds of millions of dollars each year. But there are impacts,…