21 groups have it in their care
National monument in Colorado, 176,056 acres, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, designated in 2000.
The defenders
4 groups are on the record for Canyons of the Ancients, in the order they carry the weight. The range says how strongly our editors, the court dockets and their own filings tie each one here. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
On the ground
Coalition · Durango, CO
Shaped the 2010 management plan, has fought oil and gas leasing decisions inside the monument for two decades, mobilized against the 2017 monument review, and states it continues to defend CANM.
9 staff + 20 volunteers89¢ of every dollar to the workFounded 1986
Also in the fight
Stewardship · Durango, CO
The Durango-based national office chartered a Montezuma County chapter specifically to support the monument with archaeological site stewardship, trail work, and comments on grazing and oil and gas oversight.
5 staff + 3,115 volunteers81¢ of every dollar to the workFounded 1989
Legal · San Francisco, CA
Represented San Juan Citizens Alliance and partners in a 2002 settlement that added archaeological and wildlife oversight to a seismic survey and deferred new oil and gas leasing in the monument pending the management plan EIS.
698 staff + 33 volunteers81¢ of every dollar to the workFounded 1971
Advocacy · Washington, DC
Was a plaintiff in the 2002 Earthjustice settlement that constrained seismic exploration and deferred oil and gas leasing decisions inside the monument.
178 staff + 32 volunteers75¢ of every dollar to the workFounded 1935
On the ground in Colorado
More ways in
The situation
Over 6,000 recorded archaeological sites in 176,000 acres, the highest density in the United States, with thousands more still buried. Homes, granaries, and kivas of ancestral Puebloan people. Oil and gas drilling is destroying sites that have not yet been discovered, let alone studied.
Source: BLM · February 1, 2025
No public comment window is open on Canyons of the Ancients right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
In the courts
The dockets we track that name Canyons of the Ancients directly. Active first.
Your move
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Canyons of the Ancients, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands Map4 groups on the record, San Juan Citizens Alliance with 9 staff + 20 volunteers. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.
