Forest plan renews old fight in northern New Mexico

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | April 15 and May 1, 2016 | T. S. Last

[CedarDave]

On June 5, 1967, the Alianza Federal de Mercedes – which translates to Federal Land Grant Alliance – led by Reies Lopez Tijerina stormed the courthouse in Tierra Amarilla with the intention of freeing nearly a dozen members of their group who had been arrested two days earlier and to make a citizens’ arrest of prosecuting District Attorney Alfonso Sanchez.

The two-hour confrontation resulted in a prison guard being shot through the cheek and a sheriff’s deputy severely beaten. It ended when the 20 or so raiders escaped with two hostages.

The famous raid was inspired in part by ill will between the land grant activists and the U.S. Forest Service. And, nearly 50 years later, relations between the Forest Service and Hispanic landowners in parts of northern New Mexico remain a tinderbox.

“There is no trust of the Forest Service. There have been too many wrongs,” said Moises Morales, now Rio Arriba County clerk, who was Tijerina’s body guard at the time of the courthouse raid. And his feelings haven’t changed.

“They stole 32 million acres of land without the approval of Congress with the flick of a pen,” he said of what he maintains was the U.S. government’s systematic acquisition of property begun by President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration – property granted to Spanish settlers of the Southwest by the king of Spain hundreds of years before there was an America. “We have a right to this land.”

The latest iteration of this ancient dispute involves a Forest Service process to rewrite its management plan for the entire Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico ...

And part of the rewrite process involves whether to designate more areas as wilderness – which could put the land off-limits to land-grant heirs’ traditional uses ...

[Fiji Hill]

Thanks. That was fascinating.

[laplata]

Another narrow gauge in Durango, CO...northwest of Chama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y63ap0qoYDI&list=PLcZPAAE84d1Usjy_GSIJ1om8h7qxiDgGP

[Flycatcher]

I knew of Ted Turner's land purchases in the West, but I had no idea of its extent. Nor did I know of this New Mexico chapter in history. Very interesting.

Thanks for the ping!

[Elsie]

“We have a right to this land.”

If Spain still had possession; I'd agree.

[Elsie]

It may be the largest privately owned acreage in this country.-

Indeed!

Even dwarf's the Mormon ranch in Florida...

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All told, the Ranch is comprised of about 295,000 acres, or 450 square miles, stretching across Orange, Osceola, and Brevard counties.

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Deseret Ranch