Public Lands Issues
Public Lands Rule
In 2026 the Trump administration removed the 2024 Public Lands Rule, which directed the Bureau of Land Management to prioritize conservation, wildlife habitat, clean water, cultural resources and Indigenous Knowledge alongside development across 250 million acres of land. The rule’s removal by the Trump administration is a gift to extractive industries and puts these lands at risk. Learn what we’re doing to protect them.
The Rio Grande Bosque
Albuquerque’s Bosque is a beautiful stretch of riverside forest that bisects the city. In 2012, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry introduced a development plan, called the Rio Grande Vision, that triggered a wave of dissent within the community. Community members anticipated that development of the Bosque would damage the natural qualities sought by visitors and wildlife alike, and harm the Bosque’s delicate ecosystem.
As a response to the development plan, the Rio Grande Chapter, community members and other local organizations came together to form the Bosque Action Team to formulate a better vision for the Bosque. Our healthier vision includes opposing development between the levees and encouraging alternatives, such as improving access points to the Bosque and funding programs that provide education for students about the Bosque. The Bosque Action Team believes any efforts within the levees should be restorative, strengthening the Bosque as a natural habitat, and preserving its appeal as an “environmental gem.”
Chaco Canyon
Chaco Canyon, one of the most historically significant regions in New Mexico, is a World Heritage site and is sacred to generations of native peoples who live here today. But the Trump administration is planning on rolling back a ban against oil and gas drilling there, which could put Chaco at risk as well as harm air and water quality and damage precious cultural resources. Learn how we can help our allies to protect this irreplaceable piece of living history.
National Monuments
We helped win protections for the Rio Grande del Norte and the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks national monuments in 2013. Since then, Sierra Club continues to steward and advocate for more than 738,000 acres of land. Learn more about our work for these New Mexico gems.
Caja del Rio
The Caja del Rio plateau west of Santa Fe is an ancient lava field that has both sheltered and provided for people living here for throughout human history. A sacred land for New Mexico’s pueblos, this piñon/juniper landscape is dotted with petroglyphs on cliff walls. Federal efforts are under way to protect this ecologically-diverse land and its heritage.
Help us protect our land
The Rio Grande Chapter Public Lands Team are stewards of the more than SIZE square miles of New Mexico, eastern Arizona and west Texas. Sierra Club is involved in numerous aspects of protecting public lands from extraction, abuse, neglect for the health of our environment and our communities. Land based advocacy is important because it protects our homes and communities from loss of life and livelihood, and the spiraling costs of climate change. We can best protect ourselves and future generations by caring for where we live today. We’ve celebrated several major victories in just the last few years:
- Permanent protection for Rio Grande del Norte in Northern New Mexico and Organ Mountains Desert Peaks in Southern New Mexico with their designations as national monuments in 2013 and 2014
- Transfer of Valles Caldera to National Parks Service management, which has better resources to manage it than its current structure in 2015
- Federal designation of Columbine Hondo in Northern New Mexico as a Wilderness in 2015
Our advocacy efforts focus mostly on federal lands under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management, but it also can include state and local jurisdiction land as well. We work in coalition with other environmental organizations on:
- Reviewing and commenting on updates to U.S. Forest Service and BLM Resource Management Plans.
- Working to protect wilderness on all public lands and helping identify Lands With Wilderness Characteristics for further inclusion.
- Identifying and opposing projects that are harmful to the land, water and wildlife on public lands and do not support sustainability or address effects of climate change.
- Coordinating with other organizations to promote the designation of lands suitable for national monuments.
How you can help
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