WEBVTT 00:02.066 --> 00:04.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Tension between ranchers and environmentalists is nothing new, but climate 00:04.933 --> 00:09.933 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% change could be exacerbating one particular issue: water rights. 00:12.033 --> 00:15.033 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% From Iowa Public TV, Josh Buettner reports about one decades-long dispute in New Mexico. 00:17.533 --> 00:22.266 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: Like generations before him, Spike Goss runs cattle in New Mexico's Sacramento 00:24.166 --> 00:29.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Mountains, land later designated part of the Lincoln National Forest by President Teddy 00:29.633 --> 00:31.733 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Roosevelt. 00:31.733 --> 00:33.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% SPIKE GOSS, Sacramento Grazing Association: My rights come long before New Mexico became 00:33.300 --> 00:36.066 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% a state, long before there was a U.S. Forest Service. 00:36.066 --> 00:40.966 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: But in recent decades, endangered species protections have resulted in cuts 00:40.966 --> 00:44.566 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% to the number of head Goss can graze on federal land. 00:44.566 --> 00:47.366 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% SPIKE GOSS: Forest Service says we are a permittee. 00:47.366 --> 00:49.233 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% We're not permittees. 00:49.233 --> 00:50.233 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% We're allotment owners. 00:50.233 --> 00:51.233 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% We own our allotments. 00:51.233 --> 00:52.700 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% We bought it. 00:52.700 --> 00:55.166 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And then we pay a grazing fee on top of that. 00:55.166 --> 01:00.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, yes, in 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that we own the water rights. 01:02.133 --> 01:05.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: In the late 1800s, Congress struck a unique set of land, water and grazing 01:07.266 --> 01:11.033 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% allowances by granting settlers property, known as allotments, to encourage Westward 01:11.633 --> 01:13.766 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Expansion. 01:13.766 --> 01:17.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But, over decades, Goss alleges shifting government policies and court challenges have left land 01:18.233 --> 01:19.533 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% and water rights unclear. 01:19.533 --> 01:21.300 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% SPIKE GOSS: They want our water. 01:21.300 --> 01:23.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% If they can get the water, they can control us. 01:23.833 --> 01:24.966 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% They have us. 01:24.966 --> 01:27.100 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% I mean, we're finished without water. 01:27.100 --> 01:31.566 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% JOSH BUETTNER: In 1993, the Mexican spotted owl was listed as threatened under the Endangered 01:32.333 --> 01:34.366 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Species Act. 01:34.366 --> 01:38.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Soon after, two plants, the Sacramento Mountain thistle and the prickly poppy, joined the 01:39.233 --> 01:41.300 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% list. 01:41.300 --> 01:45.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The Forest Service erected fences to protect critical stream bank habitat. 01:47.366 --> 01:51.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Environmentalists say cattle congregate around waterways, strip away vegetation and upset 01:51.366 --> 01:53.700 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% ecosystems. 01:53.700 --> 01:58.600 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Goss sued the federal government, but it took 13 years before a judge ruled against the 01:58.600 --> 02:03.566 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% Forest Service, saying the agency violated the Fifth Amendment by blocking Goss' access 02:04.666 --> 02:08.200 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% to natural water sources for his herd. 02:08.200 --> 02:12.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Goss says, rather than all the fences coming down, he's actually seen more added. 02:12.933 --> 02:17.666 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% SPIKE GOSS: They just started this, putting these fences in the exclosures, these small 02:17.666 --> 02:19.733 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% fences in the exclosures. 02:19.733 --> 02:24.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: Beth Humphrey, a retired district ranger, says the Forest Service is governed 02:26.566 --> 02:30.833 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% by a multiple-use policy that requires weighing input from several stakeholders, along with 02:32.466 --> 02:34.533 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% other tasks, like fire prevention and wildlife management. 02:34.533 --> 02:37.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% BETH HUMPHREY, Former District Ranger, Lincoln National Forest: In general, if we fence out 02:37.066 --> 02:41.666 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% a piece of ground, it's to protect for threatened endangered species, or, in some cases, we 02:43.066 --> 02:46.366 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% will fence off an area to protect erosive soils. 02:46.366 --> 02:51.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: In 2014, another threatened species, the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse, 02:53.333 --> 02:57.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% was granted endangered species protection, further deadlocking rangers and ranchers over 02:57.466 --> 02:59.433 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% water rights and habitat. 02:59.433 --> 03:04.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And in a meeting between the Forest Service and Goss' Sacramento Grazing Association, 03:05.366 --> 03:07.333 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% his wife expressed their frustration. 03:07.333 --> 03:08.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% KELLY GOSS, Sacramento Grazing Association: This is wasting our time. 03:08.133 --> 03:09.333 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% It's wasting your time. 03:09.333 --> 03:11.266 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% If you want this damn water, pay for it! 03:11.266 --> 03:16.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: The dispute reflects the larger debate over land use and water rights. 03:18.666 --> 03:22.233 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Legal battles and deadly confrontations between ranchers and federal authorities have occurred, 03:23.400 --> 03:26.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% most recently in Nevada and Oregon. 03:26.533 --> 03:31.200 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Rural ranchers fear their interests are losing out to those who live in urban areas and favor 03:31.200 --> 03:33.933 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% environmental protections. 03:33.933 --> 03:37.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Patrick Nolan is a member of Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. 03:37.166 --> 03:39.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% PATRICK NOLAN, Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks: I think we need to be honest and say 03:39.133 --> 03:44.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% that the land here has been overgrazed, and we need to really figure out a way to bring 03:45.200 --> 03:49.100 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% it back to its glory of what it used to be. 03:49.100 --> 03:54.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: But amidst New Mexico's harsh cyclical drought, water rights are critical 03:55.000 --> 03:57.500 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% for ranchers like the Gosses. 03:57.500 --> 04:01.100 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% And they say they will continue to fight against an agenda intent on disrupting their viability. 04:01.100 --> 04:03.733 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% KELLY GOSS: They just continue to take and take and take. 04:03.733 --> 04:08.733 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: But ranchers' hope, with President Trump now in office, their rights to access 04:10.166 --> 04:11.833 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% natural forest resources will finally be resolved. 04:11.833 --> 04:15.666 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% SPIKE GOSS: We haven't seen it yet, but we hope, hope soon. 04:15.666 --> 04:19.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% We would like for somebody back there to come out here and take a good hard look at this 04:19.900 --> 04:24.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% and look at our issues and listen to some stuff that's been going on and look at some 04:26.766 --> 04:29.800 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% of our documentation and mostly follow the law. 04:29.800 --> 04:31.866 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% I don't believe they're following the law at all. 04:31.866 --> 04:36.866 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOSH BUETTNER: Goss' suit is still in court while a judge determines damages against the 04:37.466 --> 04:38.966 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Forest Service. 04:38.966 --> 04:41.633 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% Because of that, the agency said it can't comment on the case. 04:41.633 --> 04:46.300 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Josh Buettner in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.