Otero sheriff says standstill continues with U.S. Forest Service over water source

Otero County Sheriff Benny House tells ABC-7 his office is at a standstill with the U.S. Forest Service.

House says he is still researching to make sure his next move is the right one.

He added that the parties are still talking but he believes the Forest Service is just going through the motions and it is frustrating ranchers who want something done.

House says he can still cut the locks off of the gates to the water to the Aqua Chiquita to allow cattle entry but he says because of ranchers private water rights, owners do not want problems with the Forest Service and want the issue resolved civilly.

House says his action cannot cause the ranchers harm, although he did not specify what kind of harm.

Many other ranchers want something done because they say this is a violation of private water rights.

House says these are public lands and the ranchers have the rights to the water. He says the Forest Service is not recognizing those rights and is doing so in the name of conservation.

In related news, officials in Otero County have sent letters to the state’s congressional delegation, asking that hearings be held to investigate the actions of the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies as battles continue in several western states over water and property rights.

Otero County commissioners said in the letters that the federal government is trampling on people’s rights across New Mexico and in Utah, Nevada and elsewhere. They invited the delegation and the chairmen of the House Natural Resources and Judiciary committees to a rally planned for Saturday across the street from the Forest Service office in Alamogordo.

“Otero County has taken a strong stance to try to protect our citizens and their rights,” the letters read. “To date, the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Justice have been unwilling to even reasonably compromise to de-escalate the situation and to work cooperatively.”

“This appears to be an uncompromising example of government bullying,” the commissioners wrote.

Decades in the making, the dispute in Otero County centers on whether the Forest Service has the authority to keep ranchers from accessing Agua Chiquita. In wet years, the spring can run for miles through thick conifer forest. This summer, much of the stream bed is dry, and ranchers say their cattle can’t reach what little water is left.

The Forest Service says the metal fence and locked gate that surround the spring are the results of a decision made in 2004 to protect the wetland habitat.

Any decision to unlock the gate would have to undergo environmental reviews and the impending listing of a rare mouse as a federally protected species would have to be considered, forest officials have said.

The Forest Service says grazing on public land doesn’t automatically ensure a right to the water on that land.

The county, its lawyer and other supporters argue that the water belongs to the ranchers.

“It is a property right,” rally organizers said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s time we let the federal government know that we the people understand the U.S. Constitution.”

The U.S. attorney for the district of New Mexico called a meeting earlier this month in hopes of easing tensions to avoid an escalation like the armed standoff last month over grazing rights in Nevada. Neither side in the New Mexico dispute has budged.

There are also concerns that the listing of the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse will lead to more fencing of wetlands on other public lands in New Mexico and Arizona, forcing ranchers to abandon their grazing allotments.

The Forest Service denies there is any effort to push ranchers out.

Environmentalists have sent letters of support to forest officials, saying the agency has a duty to safeguard water supplies on public lands. On Wednesday, WildEarth Guardians accused Otero County of “thuggery” for threatening to remove the fences.

Depending on the outcome of their request, county commissioners have cleared the way for the sheriff to take steps to remove or open the gates at Agua Chiquita.