BLM orders Rinconada-area man off land

RINCONADA, N.M. (AP) - The US Bureau of Land Management has evicted a northern New Mexico man from land used by his family for nearly 40 years.

The BLM says it has started the process to restore the land used by Joe Sanchez’s family. The agency says the federal land is adjacent to land owned by the family.

The deadline for Sanchez’s son, Casey Sanchez, to be off the property north of Espanola was Tuesday. The property had been at the center of a legal battle for decades.

Casey Sanchez says his family was given 477 acres, including the nine he’s being evicted from, through the Embudo Land Grant. The federal government has not recognized the claim.

The U-S attorney’s office accused Sanchez last year of trespassing on federal property.