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APRIL 25, 2000

A bill introduced earlier this year by Northern Cheyenne Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R Colo) failed to create a "Canyons of the Ancients" national conservation area, but Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt may recommend to President Clinton that the southwestern Colorado area become a national monument instead.

The canyons include archaeological ruins of "Anasazi" sites, previously inhabited by the ancestors of today's Pueblo tribes in New Mexico and the Hopi in Arizona.

Campbell's bill attempted to prevent the area from being designated a national monument. "I do not believe we should lock these lands from the public," said Campbell earlier this year. His bill would have provided protections to the sites but would have allowed grazing, recreation, and other uses supported by area communities.

Campbell withdrew the bill last month after criticism by environmentalists and local landowners.

Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, a President may declare national monuments and designate what kinds of activities can occur within. National conservation areas are declared by Congress.

Local officials are worried the designation could restrict carbon dioxide drilling, a big area business, but Babbitt said those operations should be allowed to continue, focusing concern on strip mining.

Staff and news wires contributed to this report.