Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2025

This bill protects certain federal land in New Mexico near Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It blocks new mining, oil and gas leasing, and geothermal development on these lands, as shown on a Bureau of Land Management map that will be available for public inspection, to safeguard sacred sites, ancient roads, dark skies, and nearby communities in the Greater Chaco region . It honors existing rights, but any federal oil and gas leases in the area that aren’t producing end automatically and can’t be extended; if those leases end or are given up, the land stays off-limits to new leasing or mining. The bill does not change Tribal mineral rights on trust or allotment lands, and still allows rights-of-way for water, power, utilities, and roads to help local communities. It also lets the government transfer or exchange certain federal land with Indian Tribes under existing land-use plans.

Key points

• Who is affected: Pueblo Tribal communities, the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, other nearby communities, park visitors, and companies seeking to mine or drill in the area.
• What changes: No new mining or oil and gas leasing on the covered federal land; non-producing leases end and can’t be extended; areas of ended leases remain closed; Tribal mineral rights on trust/allotment lands are not affected; utilities and road projects to help communities can still proceed; a BLM map shows the protected area and is available to the public.
• When: These rules apply once the bill becomes law, with references tied to the date of enactment in the text.