NM ranching family tells feds: ‘Don’t fence us out’

New Mexico Watchdog ^ | July 3, 2014 | Rob Nikolewski

[george76]

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the meadow jumping mouse as an endangered species. Now, the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees the Santa Fe National Forest, is considering erecting a series of 8-foot high fences to protect the mouse’s habitat.

The Luceros, members of the San Diego Cattleman’s Association and holders of grazing permits with the federal government, say the fences will lock out their cattle — as well as those of other permit holders — from ever returning to the meadow where the livestock graze for 20 days in the spring and up to 40 days in the fall.

...

the mouse is active three to four months out of the year and spends the rest of its time hibernating.

...

Some 275 miles south, in Otero County, the Forest Service reinforced locked gates to keep out cattle from a creek called the Agua Chiquita to protect the mouse’s habitat. .. An attorney for Otero County says the state of New Mexico – not the federal government – has the right to access to the water to the creek and a lawsuit may be in the offing.

While the locked gate in the Otero County controversy keeps out only cattle, the Luceros complain 8-foot fencing in the Forest Service proposal in the Santa Fe Forest would keep out just about all forms of wildlife, including elk.

[aardwolf46]

Fences for the jumping mouse but not for our own border...

[abclily]

This nation has gone completely crazy! We can build an 8-foot-high fence to protect a mouse, but we can’t build a fence to protect our border? Hang it up - the United States as we knew it is gone. We’ve been brought down by evil craziness.

[Cyclone59]

That’s our govt for us. They will build a fence to protect a fricken mouse, but not one to protect our country. I am going to round up a bunch of cat and take them on a field trip to help out with this mouse problem. Besides aren’t the Fish and Wildlife Nazis busy harassing collectors and musician that have ivory in things like old clocks, pianos and bows for string instruments.

[Nowhere Man]

Cats. That’s a great idea. Everyone should take cats from places where the are going to be killed anyway and any extra cats they can find and take them down to the jumping mouse villages and turn them loose.

After they do their job, adopt the cats out, being the cat lover I am.

[Nowhere Man]

?

[First_Salute]

There are no threatened mice in New Mexico.

Other than the too-many Democrats, leftists, liberals, and GOPe.

In both cases, mice are flourishing in New Mexico.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the meadow jumping mouse as an endangered species.

Are there actual criteria these people use to make these listings, or do they just pull the findings out of their asses at the behest of environ-MENTAL groups?

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maybe there is a village full of illegal children in the designated area . . .

[george76]

UN Agenda 21 is their plan.

The fake issue ( mouse, fish, bird, worm ... ) has nothing to do with the real issue.

[EinNYC]

Right, genius. Take cats used to being in homes and turn them loose outside in unfamiliar territory. So they can be prey for coyotes, thirst for water, get bitten by snakes and victimized by fleas and ticks. Oh, and eat things other than the mice.

The whole point is to save the mice lest yet another species goes extinct. But fencing out the cattle is a dumb idea as to how to go about it.

[hattend]

Plenty of Rattlesnakes in New Mexico that dine on these sleeping rodents.

[Nowhere Man]

Well, when you put it that way, I withdraw my idea of putting cats out there. It would hurt me to see them succumb to coyotes, rattlers and dehydration. I love my two cats very much. Still it was just an idea, brainstorming if you will, putting the idea out for discussion and debate.

[Nowhere Man]

There ya go, leave the mice to the rattlers. BTW, many other snakes would eat them too, most non-venomous snakes would constrict them before eating them.

[EinNYC]

No prob, Nowhere Man. I love MY two cats to little bitty pieces, too. I would not dream of putting them outside to catch diseases, get run over, get caught and tortured by sickos, become Chinese cuisine, etc. Anyone who would even look cross-eyed at them had better duck.

Those mice are part of the ecosystem. They belong there. If they can get along with the cattle--and I can't think of a reason they should not--then there shouldn't be a problem. I think the corrupt Feds are just trying to use the mouse as an excuse to harass ranchers. They probably have a chart and a map---"Gee, we want to shut down Rancher Jones and take over his land. What endangered species live on his land that we could use to effect a takeover, to 'protect' the critter?" They are lower than the meanest rattler's belly!

[CedarDave]

The ABQ Journal has a lengthy article about this except it features threats to ranchers in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico

Endangered mouse may cost NM ranchers their livelihood

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[woofie]

Ive got some mice they can have

[CedarDave]

Whoops! The posted article is about Jemez ranchers. Sorry about that! (But very glad the ABQ Journal picked it up too.)

[CedarDave]

“We’re not against it,” Orlando Lucero, whose family has ranched on land in the Jemez Mountains near Valles Caldera since the 1800s, said of designating the mouse as endangered. “If it’s endangered, let’s protect it. But let’s do it right. There’s not only one way to do it.”

And while ranchers say their livelihoods may be threatened, they shouldn’t be the only ones concerned. Anyone who hunts, fishes, or enjoys camping at the nearby San Antonio Campground will be impacted, they say.

Knowing northern NM as I do, any fences put up by the Forest Service that serve to keep out humans won't last long. As the article says, the locals have been there for hundreds of years and won't take kindly to the feds and city environmentalists keeping them out.

[laplata]

Knowing northern NM as I do, any fences put up by the Forest Service that serve to keep out humans won’t last long. As the article says, the locals have been there for hundreds of years and won’t take kindly to the feds and city environmentalists keeping them out.

---

Exactly. Almost every pickup coming down out of the hills had a deer under the wood as I remember.

[Carry_Okie]

How are the cattle going to bother a mouse that is hibernating?

The cattle probably improve the habitat for mice. How is the FWS going to keep it endangered that way?