Court Clears NM Headwaters Protection Hearings

Hearings on protecting New Mexico's headwaters will go on as planned today. That was the word from the state Supreme Court late Monday, after the court rejected a request from the Cattle Growers Association to stop the hearings. The association is concerned about a proposal from the Environment and Game and Fish Departments to designate 700 miles of rivers and streams, 29 lakes, and about 6,000 acres of wetlands in the state as "outstanding national resource waters," and how that might interfere with grazing allotments on Forest Service land. If the proposal is approved, the U.S. Forest Service would be required to protect the current water quality of those waters, which are mostly located in wilderness areas, and include some key headwaters, according to Lorimier. "Those are streams that originate in the Gila, to streams that are ephemeral, and originate in foothills, or in higher elevations that don't have spring activity."...more

Also see this from the Cattle Growers.