By Joseph Kolb
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., May 16 (Reuters) - A New Mexico dispute over a rancher's right to give her cattle access to a watering hole on federal land escalated on Friday after a county official condemned as "tyranny" the federal government's refusal to open an access gate.
In the latest dispute over federal control of public land in the U.S. West, commissioners in rural Otero County voted earlier this week to defy the federal government and open a gate in the fenced-off parcel.
The U.S. Forest Service says the fence has been in place for decades, protecting a delicate ecosystem surrounding a natural spring as well as an endangered species of mouse from being trampled by cattle.
Representatives for the county met on Friday with federal officials, seeking on behalf of the rancher to allow some 200 head of cattle into the 23-acre area. They later said they were "frustrated and disappointed" by the session.
"While the county contingent respectfully discussed that the U.S. was violating the law in their current actions, the federal government was unwavering in their belief that they lacked the authority to stop violating the law and open the gates," A. Blair Dunn, a lawyer representing the county, said in a statement.
County Commissioner Tommie Herrell complained in the statement that the Forest Service had been unwilling to open the gate for 30 days while the sides worked out a longer-term solution, and called that refusal "nothing short of tyranny".
The U.S. Forest Service has said an old barbed-wire fence was recently upgraded in cooperation with the rancher, and allowed room for a watering canal for the cattle without disturbing protected land. It also says there are other watering holes on the rancher's 28,850-acre grazing allotment.
The Forest Service says the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse was expected to be listed as an endangered species in June, which would mean those 23 acres would be considered a critical habitat.
U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Damon Martinez, who hosted the meeting at his offices in Albuquerque, declined to comment, as did a Forest Service spokesman.
The dispute is the latest squabble between federal authorities and conservative states' rights advocates in the West, who want to take back millions of acres of public land from central government agencies.
It comes in the wake of an armed standoff last month between supporters of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and federal land managers who sought unsuccessfully to seize his cattle over his longstanding refusal to pay grazing fees. Bundy and his allies do not recognize federal authority over the land. (Writing and additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Ken Wills)
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