4,200 acres of BLM in Placitas off limits to mining, drilling

Apr. 18—Public land near Placitas will be protected from mining for the next 50 years, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced Thursday.

With a quick flourish of her pen, Haaland signed Public Land Order 7940 to protect 4,200 acres. She was surrounded by pueblo governors, Placitas residents, New Mexico's lieutenant governor, Merced de Comunidad de San Antonio de las Huertas land grant officials and Bureau of Land Management officials.

"Done," she said.

The public land order prevents new gravel operations, mining claims and oil and gas development for the next 50 years. The order impacts four tracts of Bureau of Land Management land that contain archeological resources, Haaland said.

"The way we talk about it at Santa Ana, no one makes any more land and so let's try to preserve everything that we can," Santa Ana Pueblo Gov. Myron Armijo said.

The San Felipe and Santa Ana pueblos consider the lands sacred.

"They and many other Indigenous communities have called the Placitas area home since time immemorial, evidence of their presence found for nearly every settlement period of the past 10,000 years," Haaland said.

"It is undeniable how important the sacred lands are to Native people, culturally and spiritually. These lands are also extremely important to our nonhuman relatives: deer and elk, the bears and cougars call this ecosystem home. And these lands allow them to move freely between the Sandia Mountains and the mountain ranges in northern New Mexico."

The area also offers outdoor recreation opportunities such as hiking, camping and hunting, Haaland said.

The pueblos of San Felipe and Santa Ana have long been trying to protect the area. Community associations for the Village of Placitas and Sandoval County have also been trying for over 20 years to protect the land from mining. Multiple pieces of legislation meant to protect the land have been penned by New Mexico's congressional representatives — including by Haaland herself during her time in Congress — but none had passed and been signed into law.

Last year, the Department of the Interior announced the proposed protections, then accepted public comments on the proposal and met with community members. After that process, the department determined that it was in the best interest of the community and the American people to protect and preserve the area, Haaland said.

Without the protection, the land would have been a target for gravel mining, said Mary-Rose de Valladares, a Placitas resident who has been advocating for 28 years through five presidential administrations to get the land protected.

Rep. Melanie Stansbury and Sen. Martin Heinrich shared statements supporting the action and advocating for permanent protection for the area. Both have previously sponsored legislation to protect it.

"This finalized proposal by the administration will provide key protections for the Buffalo Tract for 50 years," Heinrich said in a statement. "Next, it's time for Congress to pass my Buffalo Tract Protection Act to make these protections permanent."