DIAMOND BAR CATTLE COMPANY

Gila-area rancher seeks help from cattlemen’s board

(Albuquerque-AP) -- Gila ranchers who have been ordered to remove their cattle from a Gila Forest allotment because the grazing is illegal turned to the New Mexico Livestock Board for help.

The board said Friday it probably can’t stop cattle belonging to Kit and Sherry Laney from being removed.

But the board will send a letter to the U.S. attorney asking what the board has to do to comply with the law.

The board’s only involvement is that it inspects cattle.

Board executive director Daniel Manzanares says the grazing allotment is federal land, in federal jurisdiction in a federal court.

The Laneys have been fighting the Forest Service since 1985.

Courts have ruled against their claim to private property rights to federal land where their cattle graze.