Last week, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich urged Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to designate the Caja del Rio landscape as a national monument. This designation aims to protect the region from mining and other harmful land uses.

The Caja del Rio is known for its cultural and ecological significance but faces challenges such as petroglyph desecration, illegal dumping, unregulated shooting, poaching of endangered species, habitat destruction, and irresponsible off-roading. Additionally, there is a proposed 14-mile transmission line by Los Alamos National Laboratory that poses a threat to the area.

In September, despite significant public opposition reflected in tens of thousands of comments, the Santa Fe National Forest released a draft decision approving the transmission line proposal across the Caja del Rio Plateau west of Santa Fe. The area spans lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and state trust land.

Both the Santa Fe County Commission and the All Pueblo Council of Governors have passed resolutions urging President Biden to declare Caja del Rio a national monument. State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard has also taken action by issuing an executive order banning mining and large transmission lines on state lands.

Teresa Seamster from the Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter commented: “Nothing connects us more to ourselves and each other than a mutual joy of being on the land. The Caja is a vital and encompassing place for each of us who go there to look, learn, enjoy and pray, and for the wildlife that roams throughout the landscape and makes the rocks, treetops and burrows their home.”

Seamster expressed hope that President Biden and Secretary Deb Haaland will act on these calls for designation: “We hope President Biden and Secretary Deb Haaland will follow through on calls to designate this landscape as a national monument.”