Thread: New Mexico board orders Forest Service fence opened Clash over cattle follows feds’

State officials slap feds: New Mexico board orders Forest Service fence opened

Clash over cattle follows feds’ dispute with Bundy

State officials slap feds: New Mexico board orders...


Washington Times' Alex Swoyer reports on a new ranch standoff in New Mexico over the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.


Ryan Bundy, son of the Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, rides an ATV into Recapture Canyon north of Blanding, Utah on Saturday, May 10, 2014, in a protest against what demonstrators call the federal government’s overreaching control of public lands. The area has been closed to motorized use since 2007 when an illegal trail was found that cuts through Ancestral Puebloan ruins. The canyon is open to hikers and horseback riders. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Trent Nelson) By Valerie Richardson
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The Washington Times
Monday, May 12, 2014

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  8 PhotosWestern Land Protests

A New Mexico county board on Monday instructed the local sheriff to open the Forest Service gates blocking thirsty cattle from reaching water, setting up a clash with federal agents over state water rights and endangered species.
The Otero County Commission voted 2-0, with one commissioner absent, to “immediately take steps to remove or open gates that are unlawfully denying citizens access to their private property rights.”

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PHOTOS: Western Land Protests

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Commissioner Ronny Rardin said Monday he was uncomfortable with taking action “against people that are my friends,” apparently referring to local Forest Service rangers, but that he had an obligation as an elected commissioner to uphold the Constitution.

“That Constitution is in breach right now and it is our duty, it’s our civil duty — if we want to keep our nation free and keep our country as it was intended to be by our forefathers — to stand up and take this type of action,” said Mr. Rardin.

The tension comes as ranchers and others throughout the West cry foul over what they describe as the federal government’s tightening control of public lands. About 52 percent of Western land is owned by the federal government.
The Otero County situation has even drawn comparisons to the standoff last month at the Nevada ranch owned by Cliven Bundy. Unlike Mr. Bundy, who had refused for 21 years to pay his grazing fees to the federal government, the New Mexico ranchers have not broken any laws.

The New Mexico ranchers became alarmed this year when Forest Service officials refused to open gates allowing cattle to reach a creek in the Lincoln National Forest. Local rangers have said that they are trying to protect the riparian area, which is considered habitat for the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.
The mouse is expected to be listed as an endangered species in June. The proposed listing, which would include as much as 193 miles of critical habitat in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, comes after a settlement with WildEarth Guardians in 2011.

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Otero County Sheriff Benny House said that he plans to wait to enforce the order until after a meeting Friday called by acting U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez.

“We’re just doing our homework and finding out exactly what our options are between now and the meeting on Friday, and hopefully we can get something resolved on Friday,” said Mr. House. “I’ll give them that courtesy.”

The Forest Service released a statement Monday saying that the fence, which has been in place for decades “was recently repaired and improved with input from the rancher to ensure that cattle still have access to water.”

“There is an opening in the fence that provides access to water on these 23 acres and there is additional water throughout the surrounding 28,850 acres available to the cattle,” said the statement. “The Forest Service will continue to work to ensure all parties involved understand that the fence is fully compliant with state and federal law.”

Attorney Blair Dunn, who represents the county on the issue, says the cattle have had trouble finding the 10-foot opening in the fence, calling it a “needle in a haystack.”

Ranchers argue that they own the water rights to the creek inside the Lincoln National Forest, and that their cattle have been drinking there for years. About 20 ranchers attended the Monday morning meeting, according to KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas.

The only comment during Monday morning’s meeting came from Denise Lang, a local activist who said the commission should defer to the federal government on matters affecting forest sustainability.

“Many of us have families who have sacrificed lives and lands, but we trust the United States Forest Service to sustain our forest,” said Ms. Lang.

Supporters of the ranchers point out that the Forest Service is allowing hundreds of elk and deer, as well as wild feral hogs, to drink from the creek. The fence is low enough to allow elk and deer to jump over it, but not cattle.

“There’s tracks and everything all over those streams anyway because there are hundreds of elk going in and out of there all the time,” said Mr. Dunn. “They do exactly the same damage as cows.”

Meanwhile, in the Nevada standoff involving Mr. Bundy, the Bureau of Land Management has begun an investigation that could lead to charges against up to 50 protesters who drove their ATVs on an off-limits trail Saturday in Utah’s Recapture Canyon as part of an anti-government demonstration. Motorized vehicles have been banned from the canyon, which holds artifacts of dwellings of ancient Indians, since 2007.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz31ZR0BngA

Marxist BLM Seizes New Mexico Ranch Land for a Jumping Mouse

May 14, 2014
By Sara Noble

The government is robbing ranchers of their livelihood again, only this time the ranchers have broken no laws.

The federal government – the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) now under the leadership of Harry Reid’s former top aide – closed down access to New Mexico ranchers’ land for the nonsensical reason that it was to protect the New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse.

Rancher Kit Laney, and a number of New Mexico Ranchers are all locked in a vicious battle with the federal government over land that the Feds are now claiming ownership of, land the Laney family has claims to going all the way back to 1883.

The government placed gates blocking his cattles’ access to a creek in the Lincoln National Forest. About 20 local ranchers were also affected, all of whom have watering rights to the creek and have been using the land for decades.

Otero County, New Mexico officials are fighting back. They told the Bureau of Land Management to remove the gates. All BLM has done is cut a ten foot opening in the fence as if the cattle can find their way through an opening that size.

US Fish and Wildlife declared the Jumping Mouse endangered last year and has been staking out its territory, much of which is used by ranchers or owned privately. That won’t stop the BLM.


New Mexico Jumping Mouse

Environmentalists, undoubtedly prompted by the government, asked that the mouse be protected in areas in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. An April 8 announcement in the Federal Register stated that they planned to make this worthless mouse an endangered species. It will be done by June 2014.

The mouse hibernates for 9 months out of the year and jumps high. That’s it! That’s its contribution to our nation.
Unlike the Cliven Bundy situation, the ranchers own the rights to the water under New Mexico law, but the creek is within the federally owned forest. The ranchers have broken no laws.

The BLM got a little smarter this time. They didn’t go in with guns drawn, they are stealing the land through the courts.
“The Forest Service is coming in and saying, ‘We’re in charge of the water and the water is part of the forest,’” said Sheriff House.

“It’s a control issue, and they’re trying to push the rancher out. They’re using every excuse in the book. One area is a riparian area. One area is critical habitat. One area might be for endangered species.

The ranchers are very concerned that the cattle won’t survive because they can’t get to the water.

Kit and Sherry Laney

Some are suggesting that Marxist John Podesta is behind these land grabs.

http://www.independentsentinel.com/m...jumping-mouse/

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f9/new-mexico-c...ispute-302858/

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