BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT — U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich will push to designate Bandelier National Monument as a national park, he announced Wednesday.
Heinrich, a Democrat, announced his plan to introduce legislation to establish Bandelier National Park and Preserve at the monument headquarters, where he appeared with representatives from local American Indian pueblos and other groups.
“I believe that it’s long past time that we recognize that Bandelier’s historical and natural resources are more than worthy of the greatest level of stewardship that our nation can muster,” Heinrich said.
Heinrich praised New Mexico’s breathtaking landscape, complex history and unique cultures.
“We really are like no place else in the United States of America,” Heinrich said. “And I think that Bandelier National Monument really encapsulates each of those things in unrivaled ways. It is not at all an exaggeration to say that this is one of the most important natural and cultural landscapes in North America.”
According to information from the National Park Service, nomadic hunter-gatherers first came to the area over 10,000 years ago. Ancestral pueblo people began to build more permanent structures there more than 800 years ago. By 1550, the residents had moved to pueblos along the Rio Grande. Spanish settlers came to the area in the mid-1700s.
President Woodrow Wilson signed off on making Bandelier a national monument in 1916.
Heinrich emphasized that, as a national park, Bandelier would be safe from being reduced in size. He pointed out that President Donald Trump ordered the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah cut by 85 percent. Several lawsuits are pending challenging the legality of Trump’s actions and charging he cut the monument down to allow extraction of natural resources.
“Bears Ears is another important cultural landscape, sacred to many tribes including several in New Mexico,” Heinrich said.
Heinrich said he’s confident that Trump’s action on Bears Ears will be overturned by the courts. However, he said that if the courts fail to do so, New Mexico’s most precious places could someday likewise be subject to similar actions.
Heinrich emphasized that Bandelier has ongoing religious significance to Indians around New Mexico. He said his legislation to designate it as a national park would permanently protect the area from energy development while safeguarding tribal religious practices.
Gov. J. Michael Chavarria of Santa Clara Pueblo said he endorsed Heinrich’s proposal to designate the area as a national park. He said it’s critical to protect the history of the site.
“These sites aren’t meant to be desecrated. These artifacts aren’t meant to be stolen,” Chavarria said.
Gov. Joe. M. Aguilar of Santo Domingo Pueblo and several members of his pueblo council attended the event to support Heinrich’s proposal.
“This new announcement of this change is toward the positive side,” Aguilar said.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, said his group is very supportive of Heinrich’s proposal, which would open about 4,000 acres of Bandelier to hunting under management of the neighboring Valles Caldera National Preserve.
“This is an incredibly diverse ecosystem that provides habitat for a number of species,” Deubel said.
Representatives from Los Alamos and Santa Fe municipal governments spoke in favor of the proposal, saying it promised to increase visitation and help the local economy.
In an interview after his presentation, Heinrich said he expects to introduce the legislation in coming weeks. Heinrich said it commonly takes several years to push such legislation through Congress but said given the broad support for the measure, he’s confident of ultimate success.
