Otero County appealing forest lawsuit

County Commissioners have decided to appeal a federal ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico on a resolution authorizing them to remove trees from the Lincoln National Forest in an executive session at their regular meeting Thursday morning.

According to Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo, removing trees from the Lincoln National Forest without their consent is unconstitutional because it violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution

County Commission Chairman Ronny Rardin said the fight on who has jurisdiction on forest lands has been an ongoing issue since he’s been elected into office in 1992 and believes the County has every right to manage those lands.

“I’ve been quiet for the last year because this case has been in front of the federal courts. The judge finally ruled, which we have every reason to believe that she would vote against us, so our next step is to take this to the next level,” Rardin said. “What she said in her summary judgement is that the federal government as a whole has the authority of an exclusive legislative jurisdiction, which they don’t. If they have an enclave like Holloman Air Force Base does, they have exclusive legislative jurisdiction. Congress makes the rules, they follow the laws and they have police powers. The forest and BLM only have proprietary jurisdiction, which means that our sheriff is the law.”

He said the County followed state law and has faith that the Supreme Court will rule in their favor because they follow the constitution.

“We followed state law, Senate Bill 1 said we could do this, they came to sue us on that level. They’re going to have to prove to the courts that our state doesn’t have the authority to make law,” Rardin said. “Now that we have Lisa Jenkins, our new County Attorney, we’re going to go through her and we’re going to work this out and appeal it. I’m going to predict that we’re going to lose the appeal because they’re a very liberal court. The next appeal will go quickly to the United States Supreme Court and we believe that the Supreme Court, being a liberal court as well, will follow the constitution because they have in so many cases before.”

County attorney Lisa Jenkins will be following the case. Jenkins was hired as the county's new attorney Thursday, Oct. 8.

Forest Supervisor Travis Moseley said that the ruling came as bittersweet but it was very important to the Forest Service as it reaffirmed their authority and jurisdiction of forest lands.

“It reaffirms our authority and jurisdiction that Congress delegated to the National Forest and that’s important for us to be able to implement the laws that govern the management of the National Forest systems,” Moseley said. “It also confirms what we believed was true to begin with and that’s important to our management. On the other hand, I feel like it was a lot of effort on both the Forest Service and the County’s part to affirm that situation where that time, effort and money could have been better directed to achieving the interest we had in common and that’s treating the land, mitigating fire danger for our communities.”

He said he does empathize with the County in that they want to ensure that they’re doing everything possible to protect the population but feels they should work together instead of stepping in and taking control of federal lands.

“I empathize with the County and their feeling that we need to do more and do it faster but we’re moving along as quickly as we can. It’s really about trying to leverage our resources, working together dealing with fire because fire knows no boundaries, it knows no jurisdictions,” Moseley said. “The conflicts tend to be on jurisdictions, who says what and who makes the decisions but we have one thing in common and that’s treating the land and that’s our most important goal. If they feel something is flawed that’s what appeals are for. In the meantime, I hope to work on the real issue of fire protection. I feel we can spend our time so much more constructively to manage the land to make our communities more resilient.”

Congressman Steve Pearce , R-Dist. 2, said County Commissioners are on the right grounds for the right reasons and fully supports them because he feels federal government is overreaching.

“The idea that the appeal would move to the next level is something that I’m very supportive of and I’ve watched this from the very beginning of the process,” Pearce said. “I encourage the county to move forward because I believe that this can be a landmark for the entire nation.”

He said it is time for cities and counties to stand up and insist on their rights.

“Where will the court be, when the next fire breaks out?” he asked. “It is time for citizens to stand up. I will stand beside them.”

The appeal was passed by Rardin and County Commissioner Janet White. County Commissioner Susan Flores was away on county business at the Western Interstate Region through the National Association of Counties.

“Janet voted for it, I’m very proud of Janet. She understands the issues and she supports this and we will move forward,” Rardin said. “Now that we’re appealing it they’re not going to like it because they have to prove that they’re right, we don’t have to prove that we’re wrong.”