USFS promises to meet area ranchers halfway

USFS promises to meet area ranchers halfway Artesia News By Brienne Green U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., and State Rep. Jim Townsend, R-Artesia, travelled to Cloudcroft to advocate for area ranchers with the goal of providing the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) with a first-hand look at how restrictions on water rights affect the industry and the state’s economy. Both emerged optimistic their concerns, and the voices of New Mexico’s ranchers, were finally heard. The legislators, along with members of the U.S. Forest Service, met with ranchers Spike and Kelly Goss in the Penasco Pens electrified fencing area in the Sacramento Ranger District to discuss potential solutions to ranchers’ concerns over grazing allotments and restrictions to water access points that resulted from the closure. Both Pearce and Townsend pointed out the Forest Service hasn’t spotted mouse activity near the streams affected in the most recent closure and blocked some areas due simply to their habitat potential. Pearce said the legislators asked the service to provide its findings on the subject. More here **************** El Paso Water buying Dell City ranch El Paso Inc. By David Crowder El Paso Water Utilities is making its first big buy in Hudspeth County’s Dell Valley, reviving worries among residents and small landowners about the future of the farming oasis in the desert. Once purchased, the land will be leased out for farming. El Paso just wants what lies beneath it. And that purchase will be followed by others as El Paso Water – the utility’s new name – moves ahead with its long-term plan to import water from counties to the east in West Texas. El Paso Water, a semi-autonomous utility governed by the Public Service Board, already owns 101,706 acres of land, which includes 26,159 acres in El Paso County and 868 acres in New Mexico. More here