Alamogordo Daily News Ranchers Protest Restrictions

Sacramento Grazing Allotment Rancher Protests Grazing Restrictions in Lincoln National Forest

by Nicole Maxwell | nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com

Ranchers who graze cattle in the Lincoln National Forest on the Sacramento Allotment have grown tired of what they see as governmental overreach, pointing to U.S. Forest Services' use of the Endangered Species Act to enact new policies on the allotment.

The Goss family has grazed on that allotment for five generations, recently seeing the number of cattle allowed to graze there cut from 553 to 412. Kelly Goss organized a rally at the Otero County Fairgrounds on Aug. 15 to protest the U.S. Forest Service-Lincoln National Forest Service's actions within the the Lincoln National Forest.

From May 2022:Forest Service responds to Otero County cease and desist letter about grazing "Today, we're here to protest the overreach of the federal government in all of our lives, but in particular the overreach that the Goss family has been experiencing for 30 years in arbitrary, capricious decisions they are making on our allotment," Goss said. "They're using the Endangered Species Act to systematically destroy our livelihood. We're here to protest that.” "Last year (the Lincoln National Forest) cut is by 82 head, so we went to 330 and now they're attempting to reduce us to only 100 head of cattle," Goss said. "Historically, there have been over 1,300 head of cattle grazed on our allotment and we have 127,000 acres and we're only allowed 100 head of cattle."

While the U.S. Forest Service pointed to overgrazing of the public lands, Goss said wildlife like elk are mostly to blame for the condition of grazing lands.

"The out-of-control elk population, they're the ones that are damaging the forage and also what the Forest Service deems as critical habitat," Goss said. Judy Holcom Medeiros, who was also at the rally, said the Forest Service has already used the ESA's protection of the meadow jumping mouse to endanger ranching operations in the region. "We have a ranch in the Sacramento Mountains," Medeiros said. "I'm very concerned about my fellow ranchers and the abuses that are being enforced on them by the Forest Service about a mouse that the science is very weak and not justified and they're being abused because of that.” The New Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse is "a rare subspecies found primarily near streams and wetlands in parts of New Mexico, eastern Arizona, and southern Colorado. Threats to the jumping mouse and its habitat include grazing pressure, water management and use, lack of water due to drought/climate change, wildfires, and certain recreation activities," according to the National Forest Service. Ranchers and the Forest Service have also clashed over protections for the Mexican Spotted Owl, a species listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Lawsuits over the owls habitat in the Lincoln National Forest resulted in the end of logging in certain parts of the Lincoln National Forest. The injunction that prevented logging was lifted on Oct. 28, 2020.