NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – It’s been a long-debated topic pinning private landowners against people using New Mexico’s rivers recreationally.
Friday morning, New Mexico’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and two outdoor organizations pressured the state to crack down on illegal fencing on public waters.
“These are extremely dangerous to the public,” said Sherry Barrett with New Mexico Paddlers Coalition.
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Fencing across rivers and streams with hopes of keeping out trespassers on private property interferes with what the state law now deems legal.
“There had been barriers that had been allowed by certain regulation, and the New Mexico Supreme Court said that those regulations were unconstitutional,” said NMDOJ Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson.
The NMDOJ, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, and the New Mexico Paddlers Coalition went before legislators during the Water and Natural Resources Committee presenting the status on stream access enforcement.