Every Generation is a Steward: Protect the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
The Issue
The Lower Pecos Canyonlands preserve one of the world’s greatest archaeological collections of painted murals and cultural artifacts. For more than 12,000 years, people have lived, traveled, and gathered in the rugged canyons where the Pecos River meets the Rio Grande. Surviving murals date from 6,000 years ago until historic times. These remarkable places have endured because generations of stewards, Indigenous peoples, private landowners, researchers, archaeologists, educators, and conservationists, recognized their responsibility to protect them for those who would come after.
Today, this extraordinary landscape faces a new challenge.
The Big Bend Project 5 barrier includes construction activities that would permanently alter one of North America’s most significant archaeological landscapes. While border security is an important national priority, Shumla believes protecting cultural heritage and securing our borders are not mutually exclusive goals. We advocate for an alternative approach that meets border security objectives while reducing impacts.
For that reason, the Board of Directors of the Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for thoughtful stewardship, sound science, meaningful consultation with Tribal communities and affected landowners, and careful consideration of the irreplaceable cultural resources of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands.
How You Can Help
By signing this petition, you are asking decision-makers to pursue border security solutions that protect the irreplaceable cultural resources of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands.
You are supporting an approach grounded in stewardship, sound science, meaningful consultation, and careful planning.
Please sign this petition, share it with your family, friends, and colleagues, and encourage others to learn why the Lower Pecos Canyonlands matter.
Together, we can help ensure future generations inherit the same extraordinary cultural legacy that has been entrusted to ours.
Because some places are simply too important to lose.
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The Issue
The Lower Pecos Canyonlands preserve one of the world’s greatest archaeological collections of painted murals and cultural artifacts. For more than 12,000 years, people have lived, traveled, and gathered in the rugged canyons where the Pecos River meets the Rio Grande. Surviving murals date from 6,000 years ago until historic times. These remarkable places have endured because generations of stewards, Indigenous peoples, private landowners, researchers, archaeologists, educators, and conservationists, recognized their responsibility to protect them for those who would come after.
Today, this extraordinary landscape faces a new challenge.
The Big Bend Project 5 barrier includes construction activities that would permanently alter one of North America’s most significant archaeological landscapes. While border security is an important national priority, Shumla believes protecting cultural heritage and securing our borders are not mutually exclusive goals. We advocate for an alternative approach that meets border security objectives while reducing impacts.
For that reason, the Board of Directors of the Shumla Archaeological Research & Education Center has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for thoughtful stewardship, sound science, meaningful consultation with Tribal communities and affected landowners, and careful consideration of the irreplaceable cultural resources of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands.
How You Can Help
By signing this petition, you are asking decision-makers to pursue border security solutions that protect the irreplaceable cultural resources of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands.
You are supporting an approach grounded in stewardship, sound science, meaningful consultation, and careful planning.
Please sign this petition, share it with your family, friends, and colleagues, and encourage others to learn why the Lower Pecos Canyonlands matter.
Together, we can help ensure future generations inherit the same extraordinary cultural legacy that has been entrusted to ours.
Because some places are simply too important to lose.
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Petition created on July 2, 2026