All Pueblo Council of Governors Endorses America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act – 2.19.26
Contacts:
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Albuquerque, NM – The All Pueblo Council of Governors, the collective voice of the 20 Pueblo Nations of New Mexico and Texas, voted on December 4, 2025, to support America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act (ARRWA). The Council’s resolution endorses congressional wilderness designation for lands within the Act, which would protect more than 8 million acres of federal public lands in Utah. This is the fifth tribal endorsement of ARRWA, following endorsements by the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe (2025), Zuni Tribe (2024), Hopi Tribe (2023), and Navajo Nation (2021).
“The protection of cultural landscapes, traditional cultural properties and sacred sites of Pueblo people is paramount to each Pueblo’s cultural preservation now and into the future,” said All Pueblo Council of Governors Chairman Dominic Gachupin. “The lands in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act are aboriginal lands, containing the testimony of Ancestral Puebloan occupation and use for thousands of years, and should be permanently protected.”
ARRWA would add more than 8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public lands in Utah to the National Wilderness Preservation System; this includes remarkable places like the Book Cliffs, the Dirty Devil, and parts of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments. As the ancestral home of all Pueblo peoples, the region contains abundant and significant cultural resources.
This spectacular landscape is a key component of what scientists say is urgently needed today: wild lands set aside to exist in their natural state to protect ecosystems and prevent catastrophic climate change. Protecting it would also keep climate-disrupting fossil fuels in the ground and provide a vital corridor for the movement and adaptation of western wildlife species.
“We are honored to have the All Pueblo Council of Governors endorsement of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act and their support in protecting public lands throughout Utah,” said SUWA Executive Director Scott Braden. “Lands in America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act are the ancestral homelands of the Pueblo peoples and it is a privilege to be able to work together to ensure that these culturally and ecologically important landscapes remain in their natural state for current and future generations.”
ARRWA has been introduced in the US House of Representatives since 1989 and the Senate since 1997. The current sponsors are Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-01); the bill has 18 cosponsors in the Senate and 61 in the House. The bill is supported by SUWA, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and more than 200 other organizations belonging to the Utah Wilderness Coalition.
“As the sponsor of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, which would protect millions of acres of lands that are ancestral and culturally important to Tribes and Pueblos across the west, I’m grateful to the All Pueblo Council of Governors for endorsing this legislation,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM). “Protecting these extraordinary landscapes is an important step in honoring our commitments to Tribes, helps address climate change, and safeguards the lands and waters of the West for future generations.”
“The endorsement of America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act by the All Pueblo Council of Governors continues the momentum of support from Tribal Nations to protect wilderness in the West,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). “I’m grateful that my bill has this support, as it’s only together that we are able to protect these important places for future generations.”
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards a world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.
