2003 Most Endangered

Most Endangered Places in New Mexico 2003

• The Waters of New Mexico, Statewide
  
• St. Vrain Mill, Mora County
  
• The Gutierrez-Hubbell House, Bernalillo
  
• Chaco Culture National Historical Park, San Juan County
  
• La Bajada Mesa and Escarpment, Santa Fe
  
• New Mexico's Historic Earthen Architectural Tradition, Statewide
  
• Melvin W. Mills House, Colfax
  
• Tucumcari Metropolitan Park — 5 Mile Park, Quay
  
• New Mexico's Greater Otero Mesa Area, Otero
  
• Historic Roadside Markers of New Mexic, Statewide
  

Chaco Culture National Historical Park, San Juan County

Located in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico.

Significance: Chaco Culture National Historical Park is not only one of the most outstanding cultural resources of the United States, but is recognized globally as a World Heritage Site. Long recognized for extraordinary architecture, a rich archeological record, and a series of magnificent roads that demonstrate its role as a center of important activity eight to twelve centuries ago, Chaco in recent years has come to be understood for its value in Archeo-astronomy. Many major Chacoan structures inside the park and throughout a wide surrounding area are now known to have been built in specific relationship to the sun, moon, planets, and stars. More than mere solstice markers, these relationships have much to tell us about the knowledge and beliefs of the Chacoan people. At few places is our custodial responsibility as great, not only to ourselves as New Mexicans and to all Americans, but to the family of humankind. At few places on earth is the crystal clear Night?and Daytime?Sky as important for understanding our past.

Threat: The clear sky over Chaco Culture National Historical Park is in danger. A coal-fired power plant is proposed for construction on private land only twenty-four miles to the south of Chaco Park Headquarter and five miles to the east of Kin Ya?a?a Chacoan Outlier. The best available technology for limiting pollution is not required to be utilized in the proposed power plant because of its location on private land and its use of privately owned coal. The owners are not held to federal environmental law. If such a plant were constructed, the plume of pollution issuing from the stacks could blot the horizon, screen the sunrise from view and diminish the clear night sky, severing the ancient connection between Chaco and the universe its people struggled to understand.