$ $ MESA$ VERDE NATIONAL PARK Credit: © Eclecticamusement | Dreamstime © Eclecticamusement Credit:

ithout comprehensive, landscape-level planning RESOURCES THREATENED that takes into account the needs of the park and its CULTURAL LANDSCAPE resources, Mesa Verde could be surrounded by W OUTDOOR RECREATION a thousand new oil and gas wells. ECONOMY VISITOR EXPERIENCE Some of the most well-known and Leasing Plan accounting for the needs AIR QUALITY well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan of the community, the park and its archaeological sites in existence are landscape—not just the needs of protected within Mesa Verde National extractive industries. That process was BY THE NUMBERS Park in southwestern Colorado. halted by the Trump administration. The The park contains over 5,000 sites, plan for 1,000 new wells is still in place. including over 600 cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde is home to the largest Without the Master Leasing Plan, cliff dwelling in North America—the the landscape is at risk of becoming 2,500 The size of the methane cloud Cliff Palace, which dates to the 12th completely overwhelmed by oil and in square miles over Mesa century. Mesa Verde was the first gas development—something that has Verde and the Four Corners. national park to focus on protecting already occurred at nearby Canyons This hot spot is the largest ever both cultural and natural resources. of the Ancients National Monument, measured in the United States where 80% of the surrounding BLM and is directly attributable to 1 The area surrounding Mesa Verde lands have been leased and the oil and gas development. has long been targeted by the oil landscape has been scarred by roads, and gas industry. A 2015 plan for the well pads, storage tanks and pipelines. area included 1,000 new oil and gas In 2018, a gas well at Canyons of the 1,000 The number of new wells surrounding the park, sparking Ancients spilled over 3,000 gallons wells included in a 2015 BLM concern among community groups. of wastewater, contaminating nearby resource management plan for public lands neighboring Such an extensive and wide-ranging lands and water resources. We can’t Mesa Verde development plan put numerous park let Mesa Verde have a similar future. resources at risk. Along with Chaco Culture National th An alternative plan, which would have Historical Park and Hovenweep 13 Century when Spruce Tree House, an Ancestral included a comprehensive stakeholder National Monument, Mesa Verde is Puebloan cliff dwelling, was process to manage the landscape for part of a cultural landscape that tells built. It is now closed to the multiple uses, was slated to begin the story of an ancient interconnected public for the first time as under the previous administration’s civilization that is still part of a thriving fluctuations in temperatures Bureau of Land Management. This culture today. caused by climate change has caused sections of rock to would have resulted in a Master cleave from the rock face.2 0 15

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CANYONS OF THE HOVENWEEP ANCIENTS NATIONAL NATIONAL MONUMENT MONUMENT

HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

YUCCA HOVENWEEP HOUSE NATIONAL NATIONAL MONUMENT MONUMENT

UT CO AZ NM

National Park Authorized Oil and Gas Leases

National Monument BLM Lands Open for Leasing

Other Public Lands Active Oil and Gas Wells

BLM Oil and Gas Lease Offered and Sold During This Administration

1 Environmental Defense Fund, “New study confirms (again): New Mexico’s methane hot spot largely tied to oil and gas pollution,” June 15, 2017, blogs. edf.org/energyexchange/2017/06/15/new-study- confirms-again-new-mexicos-methane-hot-spot- largely-tied-to-oil-and-gas-pollution/

2 Grace Hood, ”In Mesa Verde, Climate Change Reveals New Treasures, Destroys Old Ones,” Colorado Public Radio, Aug. 16, 2016, https://www. cpr.org/2016/08/16/in-mesa-verde-climate-change- reveals-new-treasures-destroys-old-ones/