NM delegation: Three national monuments could be reduced, eliminated

Courtesy of SOURCE NM STAFF - APRIL 21, 2025

An April 21, 2025 letter from New Mexico’s federal delegation says Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument is one of the state’s national monuments that may be reduced or eliminated. (Julia Goldberg/Source NM)

In advance of an expected executive order on Tuesday, New Mexico’s federal delegation, led by U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent a letter on April 21 to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum requesting the federal government leave the state’s monuments intact.

“National monuments are vitally important to our history and any proposals to reduce their boundaries will not  be reflective of the voices of New Mexicans,” the delegation wrote. “Each monument in New Mexico represents years of community  advocacy and support for the protection of the value they hold. In New Mexico, we have a $3.2 billion outdoor  recreation sector and monuments are a significant contributor to this robust economy.”

The letter particularly singles out Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, Rio Grande del Norte, and Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks, which the letter says “are under consideration for  reduction or elimination.”

Organ Mountains in the southern part of the state hosts “significant petroglyph and archeological sites,” the letter notes, while Rio Grande del Norte “boasts some of  New Mexico’s most prized recreational opportunities in an area where the Rio Grande carves an 800-foot gorge through historic volcanic activity” and “provides access for traditional use like piñon nut collection.” Regarding Tent Rocks, the delegation notes that TIME included it on its list of the World’s Greatest Places of 2025. “Not only is Tent Rocks ‘geologically surreal,’ the letter says, “but it is  also a sacred landscape to the Cochiti Pueblo.”

​“There is no greater value to these natural landscapes than what is brought to the community through their continued protection,” the letter concludes. “Withdrawing protections from these sites would threaten the economic benefits associated with New Mexico’s outdoor recreation economy and it undermines our community and tribal voices.”