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Mouse Listing Leads To Lawsuit By New Mexico Ranchers

fws.gov

  New Mexico ranchers are suing the federal government over its attempts to limit their cattle's access to water and grazing areas in the wake of a tiny mouse winning endangered species protections in the Southwest.

Ranchers from throughout New Mexico, the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau and several cattlemen groups filed their lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

They contend their private property rights as well as the ranching traditions of some rural New Mexico communities near the Santa Fe and Lincoln national forests are at stake.

In the latest dispute over public lands in the West, the forest service has closed off some areas this year to prevent damage to the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse's habitat under the Endangered Species Act.

Habitat protections have also been proposed for parts of Arizona and Colorado.

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