H.R. 2861 — Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2025

This section revises congressional findings for the Chaco Culture National Historical Park (a unit of the National Park System and UNESCO World Heritage Site) to expand their scope from the San Juan Basin to the Greater Chaco region spanning New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. The new findings (14 total) recognize the region's archeological, sacred, and historic resources and Chacoan road networks; Tribal cultural affiliations and ceremonial uses; the park's night skies program (initiated in 1991 and certified as an International Dark Sky Park in 2013); historical federal protections dating to 1907; impacts from natural gas development and potential oil production in the Mancos/Gallup Shale; and the need for mineral withdrawals, Tribal consultation per E.O. 13175, and additional studies to protect resources, communities, and visitor experiences.

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) "covered lease" as any oil or gas lease on Federal land on which drilling operations have not commenced by the end of the primary lease term, that is not producing oil or gas in paying quantities, and that is not subject to a valid cooperative or unit plan of development or operation; (2) "Federal land" as land or interests in land within the boundaries of the Chaco Cultural Heritage Withdrawal Area per the Withdrawal Map (excluding trust land as defined in 38 U.S.C. 3765, i.e., lands held in trust by the United States for Native Americans or subject to federal restrictions on alienation); (3) "Secretary" as the Secretary of the Interior; and (4) "Withdrawal Map" as the Bureau of Land Management map entitled "Proposed Withdrawal Chaco Culture National Historic Park Surrounding Area" dated January 6, 2022 (87 Fed. Reg. 785).

This section withdraws certain Federal land in New Mexico (as depicted on the Withdrawal Map, available at Bureau of Land Management offices) from (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under mining laws; and (3) operation of mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws, subject to valid existing rights. It terminates non-producing covered oil and gas leases on the land by operation of law pursuant to section 17(e) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(e)) and applicable regulations, prohibits their extension by the Secretary, and applies the same withdrawal to any portion of the land subject to such terminated, relinquished, or acquired leases on or after enactment. Notwithstanding the withdrawal, the Secretary may convey or exchange the land with an Indian Tribe consistent with an approved resource management plan under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; the section preserves mineral rights of Indian Tribes or members of the Navajo Nation (or other tribes) on trust or allotment lands; and it allows rights-of-way for water, power, utility, or road improvements to assist adjacent communities.