By Mike Smith
Carlsbad Current-Argus

Eddy County joined five other counties in eastern and southeastern New Mexico opposing a proposed expansion of a West Texas wildlife refuge.

Sept. 3 the Eddy County Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution supporting Roosevelt County, Curry County, Lea County, Chaves County and De Baca County resisting a potential expansion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) of the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge.

The resolution served as a signed statement by the county, voicing its opinion on the subject, with no bearing on state or federal regulations.

Located south of Muleshoe, Texas, the Refuge sits on 6,440 acres and is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, according to a USFWS website.

In April of this year, USFWS announced a final protection plan seeking expansion of the Refuge to 700,000 acres, per a USFWS news release.

“Within this new limited acquisition boundary, the Service would work with willing sellers to expand conservation through fee title and easement acquisitions,” read the news release.

Former Eddy County Commissioner Lewis Derrick is the vice president of the Coalition of Arizona/New Mexico Counties, an organization consisting of five counties in Arizona and nine in New Mexico.

Derrick said the association worked to get public and private entities to stop the proposed expansion.

He said it would impact counties in eastern New Mexico and western Texas.

“Be careful of conservation easements. They call it voluntary, and I call it extortion,” Derrick said.

“They can throw a lot of money at different things and pretty soon you’re closed in an area where if people do agree and you don’t agree, voluntary kind of goes out the window.”

USFWS noted the potential Muleshoe expansion was part of the America the Beautiful Initiative enacted by the Biden-Harris Administration.

A closer look at the America the Beautiful Initiative

Three years ago, President Joe Biden issued an Executive Order, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.”

It directed the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) to partner with other federal agencies to collaborate and create a conservation plan, according to the DOI website.

“President Biden has issued a call to action that we work together to conserve, connect, and restore at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030 for the sake of our economy, our health, and our well-being,” the DOI website stated.

USFWS partnered with DOI identifying a conservation strategy and limited acquisition boundary that would support sandhill crane, pronghorn, and lesser prairie chicken along with other wildlife relying on grasslands and wetlands.

In its press release, USFWS stated expansion of the Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge would enhance lakes, grasslands, and wetlands for existing habitat.

Following the vote, Eddy County planned to send a copy of its resolution opposing the project to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Although not directly affected, Eddy County stated in its resolution citizens in New Mexico’s rural counties depend on private and public land usage, “for their livelihoods.”

“This will destroy agriculture and they’ll eventually take the water rights away,” said District 3 Commissioner Fred Beard.

The federal government does not have authority to claim water rights without approval from the State of New Mexico, said Maggie Fitzgerald, spokesperson for the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer.

“If the Federal expansion needs water rights, then the federal government will need to acquire those rights under the same process that any other party, public or private, would need to follow,” she said in an email.

“That would include submitting applications to the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer for any change in place or purpose of use of the water.”

Mike Smith can be reached by phone at 575-308-8734 or email at msmith@currentargus.com.