Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico is set to reopen

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico, which closed in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is reopening later this month.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Cochiti Pueblo announced Thursday the monument will reopen Nov. 21. Visitors will be required to make reservations online.

The tribe will be taking on day-to-day operations of the monument, a popular geologic hiking spot midway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

The bureau and Cochiti Pueblo jointly agreed to maintain the closure after pandemic restrictions were lifted to renegotiate operations of the monument.

The monument was created in 2001 with a provision that said it will be managed by the federal government in close cooperation with Cochiti Pueblo.

The agreement comes as the federal government looks for more opportunities to work with tribes to co-manage public lands and to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into planning and management of these spaces.