**Chaco Culture National Historical Park**

**Foundation for Planning and Management**

**Table of Contents**

[**Introduction** 1](#__RefHeading___Toc155875252)

[**Purpose** 2](#__RefHeading___Toc155875253)

[**Significance** 3](#__RefHeading___Toc155875254)

[**Special Mandates** 8](#__RefHeading___Toc155875255)

[**1907 Legislation** 10](#__RefHeading___Toc155875256)

[**1980 Legislation** 11](#__RefHeading___Toc155875257)

[**1995 Legislation** 16](#__RefHeading___Toc155875258)

**Chaco Culture National Historical Park**

**Foundation for Planning and Management**

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc155875252 .anchor}**Introduction**

Every park needs a formal statement of its core mission to provide basic
guidance for all the decisions to be made about the park---a foundation
for planning and management. As Chaco Culture National Historical Park
begins planning for its future, it is imperative that park management,
staff, and stakeholders have a shared understanding of what is most
important about the park, as identified in the purpose, significance,
fundamental resources and values, and other important resources and
values. It is also important to identify special mandates and agreements
that provide sideboards to planning and management in the park. The
foundation statement is the first step in National Park Service general
management planning or in other planning efforts, such as resource
stewardship plans and carrying capacity studies, and it helps ensure
that planning and management activities stay focused on the park's
mission.

**Park purpose** statements reaffirm the reasons for which Chaco Culture
National Historical Park was set aside as a unit of the national park
system and provide the foundation for the park's management and use.
These purpose statements are based on the park's legislation and
legislative history and National Park Service policies.

**Park significance** statements capture the essence of the national
park's importance to our country's natural and cultural heritage.
Significance statements do not inventory park resources; rather, they
describe the national park's distinctiveness and help to place the park
within its regional, national, and international contexts. Significance
statements answer questions such as why are the resources in Chaco
Culture National Historical Park distinct and why do they warrant
national park designation? What do they contribute to our cultural
and/or natural heritage? Defining the park's significance helps managers
make decisions that preserve the resources and values necessary to
accomplish the national monument's purpose.

**Fundamental resources and values** are the most important ideas or
concepts to be communicated to the public about Chaco Culture National
Historical Park and warrant primary consideration during planning and
management because they are critical to achieving the park's purpose and
maintaining its significance. They may include systems, processes,
features, visitor experiences, stories, scenes, sounds, smells, or other
resources and values in the park.

**Other important resources and values** may have particular importance
that warrants special consideration during general management or other
park planning, even though they do not contribute directly to the
purpose and significance of the park.

**Special mandates** are legal requirements and administrative
commitments that apply to the park. They are mandated by Congress or by
signed agreements with other entities. They are specific to the park,
and are not an inventory of all the laws applicable to the national park
system.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc155875253 .anchor}**Purpose**

> The purpose of Chaco Culture National Historical Park (Chaco Culture
> NHP) is to:
>
> Recognize and preserve the archeological resources associated with the
> prehistoric Chacoan culture in the San Juan Basin, and surrounding
> area;
>
> Preserve and interpret these resources unimpaired for the enjoyment of
> present and future generations;
>
> Facilitate research activities associated with these resources; and,
>
> Facilitate and cooperate in the protection, preservation, maintenance,
> and administration of the Chaco Culture Archeological Protection Sites
> to further preserve, interpret, and research Chacoan culture.
>
> ![](media/image1.jpeg){width="5.989583333333333in"
> height="4.489583333333333in"}

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc155875254 .anchor}**Significance**

**More than 10,000 years of human activity is preserved in Chaco Canyon.
Use of the canyon culminated in the Chaco civilization that flourished
between the 9th and 13th centuries and was characterized by remarkable
achievements in architecture, designed landscape, art, agriculture,
social complexity, economic organization, engineering, and astronomy.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   At least 4,000 sites document 10,000 years of continuous use within
    Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

-   The salient remains of the Chacoan culture include:

    -   Architecture

        -   monumental and earthen structures which include great houses
            such as Pueblo Bonito

        -   ceremonial structures

        -   habitation and community structures

    -   Rock Art

    -   Cultural Landscapes -- The cultural landscapes at Chaco Canyon
        are a reflection of human adaptation and use of natural
        resources and are expressed in the way land is organized and
        divided, patterns of settlement, land uses, systems of
        circulation, and the types of structures that were built by the
        Chacoans. The character of the Chacoan cultural landscapes are
        defined both by physical materials, such as roads, buildings,
        walls, and vegetation, and by uses such as agriculture and
        hunting that reflect cultural values and traditions.

    -   Ethnographic resources -- Ethnographic resources at Chaco Canyon
        are those landscapes, objects, plants and animals, and sites and
        structures, such as Fajada Butte, that are part of the cultural
        systems or ways of life of the Indian tribes associated with the
        park.

**Chaco Canyon was once the cultural center for a system of communities
linked by an extensive road and trading network within a 40,000
square-mile region. The extent of Chacoan influence was recognized by
Congress when it created the Chacoan Archeological Protection site
system that is collaboratively protected and preserved by the National
Park Service, tribal governments, and other agencies. Its global
significance was recognized when Chaco Canyon was designated as a World
Heritage site in 1987.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   Road and communications systems such as signaling stations.

-   Evidence of trade through objects such as objects, shells, and
    lithic artifacts.

-   Diffusion of cultural ideas and designs across space, and their
    persistence through time, that are documented by archeological
    research and the testimony of living descendants of the Chacoans.

-   Chaco Culture Archeological Protection Sites.

-   Regional scale of the Chacoan culture system.

-   The geographic setting that limited, shaped, and enabled the
    cultural expression achieved by the Chaco people.

-   The social complexity -- ceremonies, icons, community, and
    monumental scope -- of the chacoan culture that is revealed through
    the great houses.

> *Other important resources and values*

-   Other Chacoan outlier sites (those sites related to Chaco but not
    identified in the 1980 and 1995 legislation).

**The monumental structures known as Chacoan "great houses" are among
the best preserved, largest, and most complex buildings constructed in
North America until the late 19^th^ century. Several sites found within
the park are formally recognized as archeological "type sites" by the
scientific community.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   Planned, engineered, designed and constructed masonry great houses
    such as Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, Penasco Blanco, and others, both
    excavated and unexcavated.

-   Type sites are often the first or foundational site discovered about
    the culture they represent. They contain artifacts, found in
    association with one another, that are representative or typical of
    that culture. Type sites such as Shabikeschee (Basketmaker III) are
    found at Chaco Canyon.

-   Preservation of the original fabric of great houses and other site
    types for continued research, continued Indian tribe use, and
    continued education.

**Since the 1880s, scientific research in the park has yielded a
systematic record of the environment and lifeways of the region's former
inhabitants. This research has resulted in a valuable collection of
millions of objects, records, and samples that are curated to further
scientific inquiry, public education, and preservation of shared
heritage. Research through time continues to reveal connections between
Chacoan civilization and present day cultures.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   The Chaco museum collection including scholarly reports, unpublished
    manuscripts, oral histories, and the park's archaeological holdings
    from the Anasazi era (complete prehistoric ceramic vessels, stone
    projectile points, bone tools, ground stone tools, prehistoric
    construction beams, and a wide variety of effigies and ornaments, as
    well as bulk collections of ceramics, lithic artifacts, fauna, soil,
    and pollen samples.

-   Chaco-related museum collections held by others.

-   The ability to continue to contribute to the existing knowledge base
    related to the Chacoan civilization.

> *Other resources and values*

-   Partnerships with other research institutions which hold
    Chacoan-related collections and manuscripts such as University of
    New Mexico, School of American Research, American Museum of Natural
    History, and Smithsonian Institution.

**Contemporary Indian tribes, some of whom are descended from the
"Chacoans," refer to Chaco Canyon and its features in their traditional
histories and migration stories. Some tribes regard the canyon as sacred
ancestral land. The descendants of Chacoan people remain connected and
committed to Chaco Canyon through ongoing traditions. Members of at
least 25 Indian tribes continue to advise and take an active stewardship
role in the park today.**

> F*undamental resources and values*

-   Inhabitants of Chaco have not vanished, disappeared, or abandoned
    the area. They are alive and well and living in present day Pueblos
    and other Indian communities, conducting rituals and ceremonies some
    of which are derived from Chaco.

-   Cultural connections between the Chacoan people and modern Indian
    tribes that provide visitors with a unique understanding of
    continuity of culture, history, spirituality, and ongoing
    traditional values.

**The solitude, natural quiet, remote high desert environment, and
minimal park development allow the visitor an unparalleled intimate
opportunity to stand amongst the ruins and imagine the activity that
occurred during the height of the Chacoan occupation. The area is highly
valued for its intrinsic spirituality.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   The physical surroundings that enfold the visitor, conveying both
    the vast immensity of the San Juan Basin and the busy intimacy of
    "Downtown Chaco."

-   A century of research that allows the park to bring human stories --
    and enigmas -- to the silent, though awe-inspiring remnants of human
    activity placed so deliberately in and around the canyon.

-   Intertwined with natural and cultural resources and scenery are
    opportunities to understand Chaco Canyon through personal experience
    and enjoyment of its scale and attributes.

-   Solitude, natural sounds, sandstone cliffs, natural events,
    landscape, and remote sites that are integral for visitor
    understanding of Chaco Canyon.

**The dark night sky provides visitors with an opportunity to make
astronomical observations and understand the same sky the Chacoans
observed and incorporated into their landscape, buildings, and
culture.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   The ability to view the dark night sky including the stars, moon,
    sun, and other celestial bodies.

-   Chacoan people constructed buildings to align with astronomical and
    celestial occurrences which gives us a sense of the complexity and
    sophistication of the Chacoan culture such as Casa Rinconada and Sun
    Dagger on Fajada Butte.

**Chaco Canyon is the cradle of Southwest archeology. Pioneering
exploration and study conducted in Chaco Canyon helped shape the
discipline and the legal foundations for historic preservation in the
United States.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   Body of knowledge and collections from Chaco Canyon that has
    resulted from the study of more than 120 years of investigation --
    examples range from stratigraphy to paleoenvironmental
    investigations to use of remote sensing on archeological sites.

-   The history of Southwest archeology and preservation is linked to
    Chaco Canyon through historical figures such as Richard Wetherill,
    Edgar Lee Hewett, A. E. Douglass, and Gordon Vivian.

-   Chaco is the laboratory for developing and testing archeological and
    preservation methods and techniques. The history of the archeology
    in Chaco Canyon shaped and mirrors the development of American
    archeological method and theory and is still developing.

> *Other important resources and values*

-   Partnership with University of New Mexico (see above).

**As one of the rare protected natural areas in the San Juan Basin, the
park serves as a reference site for ecological and geomorphic processes
and offers opportunities to conserve the region's biodiversity and
monitor its environmental quality.**

> *Fundamental resources and values*

-   The park is the largest area closed to grazing in the New Mexico
    portion of the Colorado Plateau. As such it serves as an ecological
    reference site for plant community and soil recovery. Many of these
    recovered plant species were used by the Chacoans and continue to be
    used today .

-   Chaco Wash provides one of the few examples, if not only example, of
    a properly functioning emphemeral riparian system.

-   Chacoans used natural hydrological processes and flows coupled with
    landscape manipulation to provide water for their uses.

> *Other resources and values*

-   Research on the newly established elk herd at Chaco Canyon is
    providing new information on the population dynamics and impacts of
    large wild ungulates in arid ecosystems.

    []{#__RefHeading___Toc155875255 .anchor}**Special Mandates**

**[Land Acquisition and Cooperative Agreements]{.underline}**

**Authority**: Public Law 96-550 Sec. 504 (c) (1) and (c) (2); Public
Law 104-11 Sec. 4

Public Law 96-550 indicates that "The Secretary of the Interior shall
seek to enter into cooperative agreements with the owners, including the
beneficial owners, of the properties located in whole or in part within
the park or the archeological protection sites. The purposes of such
agreements shall be to protect, preserve, maintain, and administer the
archeological resources and associated site regardless of whether title
to the property or site is vested in the United States." The subsequent
Public Law 104-11 amends this section by indicating that the Secretary
will seek to use a combination of land acquisition and cooperative
agreements to accomplish archeological resource protection on those
sites that remain in private ownership.

These sections in Public Law 96-550 and 104-11 are interpreted to mean
that the park will enter into cooperative agreements with landowners as
the opportunity arises or as needed to protect Chacoan-related resources
within or immediately adjacent to the park or at the outlying
archeological protection sites named in the legislation. However, the
legislation does not require the Secretary or the National Park Service
to actively pursue these agreements.

Public Law 96-550 does mandate that "The Secretary shall acquire fee
title to any such private property only if necessary to prevent direct
and material damage to, or destruction of, Chaco Cultural resources and
no cooperative agreement with the owner of the private property interest
can be effected." Thus, if Chaco-related resources are threatened with
destruction in areas outlined in the Act, the National Park Service
would be required to seek protection through land acquisition.

**[Surface Protection]{.underline}**

**Authority**: PL 96-550 Sec. 506 (c)

Activities are not permitted on the upper surface of the archeological
protection sites that would endanger their cultural values. For purposes
of this mandate, upper surface is considered to be a depth of 20 meters
below ground level. However, this mandate does not exclude or prevent
exploration and development of subsurface oil and gas, mineral, and coal
resources from outside the sites which does not affect the upper surface
of the sites.

**[Notice of Federal Undertakings]{.underline}**

**Authority**: PL 96-550 Sec. 507 (c)

The head of any federal agency having direct or indirect jurisdiction
over a federal undertaking with respect to lands and waters in the
archeological protection sites is required to provide the Secretary of
Interior with a reasonable opportunity to comment in writing on the
undertaking and its effects on these sites, Additionally, the federal
agency is required to seriously consider these comments.

**[Assistance to the Navajo Nation]{.underline}**

**Authority**: Public Law 104-11 Sec. 5

The Secretary, through the Director of the National Park Service, will
assist in the management and protection of those Chaco Archeological
Protection Sites located on land under the jurisdiction of the Navajo
Nation through a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement to assist the
Navajo Nation in site planning, resource protection, interpretation, and
resource management actions. This assistance will include helping to
develop a Navajo facility to help interested individuals appreciate the
Chacoan Archeological Protection Sites.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc155875256 .anchor}**1907 Legislation**

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc155875257 .anchor}**1980 Legislation**

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc155875258 .anchor}**1995 Legislation**