New Mexico’s Bandelier National Monument, where many of its Ancestral Pueblo structures date back to 1150 and 1600, is the oldest in the state, designated in 1916. (recreation.gov)
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By Roz Brown
June 6, 2025
New Mexicans will gather in Las Cruces, Taos and other locations tomorrow for a day of action to defend national monuments and public lands.
The second Trump administration has renewed calls to sell off public lands to save the government money.
Miya King-Flaherty, program manager for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, said advocates will rally to prevent public lands from being turned over to states, industry groups and developers.
“We’re really trying to inform the public about these senseless attacks on our public lands that the administration is moving forward with,” King-Flaherty explained. “To call on our Congressional delegates in New Mexico to keep pushing back and letting them know that their constituents are behind them.”
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., is pressuring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to release a list of 400 national parks he cited in Congressional testimony which could be transferred to states or localities as the agency seeks to cut 30% of its operating budget.
On June 8, 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid outdoorsman, signed the Antiquities Act, the first U.S. law to provide legal protection of cultural and natural resources on federal lands. It authorizes presidents to establish national monuments to protect historic and scientific sites.
King-Flaherty pointed out in contrast, the Trump administration’s approach aims to maximize economic output from federal lands.
“These policies are really meant to allow corporations, multimillionaires, billionaires to exploit our lands at the expense of what the public wants,” King-Flaherty contended. “It really just undercuts our democracy.”
Earlier this year, the Washington Post reported the Trump administration had included New Mexico’s Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks in a list of six national monuments for potential mining activities and a reduction in protections. President Donald Trump has already signed a proclamation opening up the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument to commercial fishing.