New Mexico
Advocates allege Fish and Wildlife Service isn’t protecting an endangered mouse from grazing – NM Political Report
The Center for Biological Diversity says that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not taking the steps necessary to protect an endangered mouse living in the Lincoln National Forest from cattle grazing. The wildlife advocacy group, along with the Maricopa Audubon Society, is pressuring the federal government to end cattle grazing in critical habitat […]
The Center for Biological Diversity says that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not taking the steps necessary to protect an endangered mouse living in the Lincoln National Forest from cattle grazing.
The wildlife advocacy group, along with the Maricopa Audubon Society, is pressuring the federal government to end cattle grazing in critical habitat and has filed a notice of intent to sue should the Fish and Wildlife Service fail to take steps to protect the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse within the next 60 days.
The mouse once ranged from southern Colorado into central New Mexico as well as eastern Arizona, but riparian habitat loss and degradation has caused a significant decrease in the areas where the rodent is found.
Advocates say cattle grazing in the Sacramento Mountains in Lincoln National Forest is destroying riparian habitat that the mouse relies upon.
The Fish and Wildlife Service designated critical habitat within the national forest in 2016, but the wildlife advocates say cattle grazing in that critical habitat continues to degrade the riparian areas.
Additionally, the habitat where the mouse occurs is also home to the Mexican spotted owl.
“The jumping mouse and these spotted owls will only survive if the meadows and streams they rely on in the Sacramento Mountains are healthy, but cattle are wreaking havoc here,” Robin Silver, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release. “Federal officials have a years-long pattern of failing to control destructive cattle grazing. It’s immoral and illegal for the Forest Service to neglect its responsibility to protect this critical habitat, and that failure will cause a local extinction.”
The U.S. Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service concluded in a biological opinion that allowing cattle to graze in the area would not jeopardize habitat for either the owl or the mouse. That decision, according to the advocacy groups, leaves “42 percent of the designated critical habitat unprotected on the Sacramento Allotment and 74 percent unprotected on the adjoining Agua Chiquita Allotment.”
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tanya Tucker will perform at the 2026 New Mexico State Fair, officials announced Tuesday.
Tucker will take to the stage Friday, Sept. 18, after the Chevron PRCA rodeo. The Grammy Award-winning icon has racked up 10 No. 1 country hits since her first hit, “Delta Dawn,” at age 13.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring the legendary Tanya Tucker to the New Mexico State Fair,” said Dan Mourning, general manager of the New Mexico State Fair. “Tanya is one of the greatest icons in country music history and is the perfect fit for the Fair.”
Tucker has 23 Top-40 albums and 56 Top 40 singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has won two Country Music Association awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, three CMT Awards and two Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Song.
Tickets are set to go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m.
Here is the full 2026 New Mexico State Fair rodeo-concert lineup:
Friday, Sept. 11
Turnpike Troubadours with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Saturday, Sept. 12
Ian Munsick with Chevron PRCA Xtreme Bulls
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Chevron PRCA Standalone Rodeo
Thursday, Sept. 17
Everclear with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Friday, Sept. 18
Tanya Tucker with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Saturday, Sept. 19
The Warning with Chevron PRCA Rodeo
Sunday, Sept. 20
Chevron PRCA Rodeo – Matinee
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — State investigators began searching a secluded ranch in New Mexico on Monday where financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein once entertained guests amid allegations that the property may have been used for sexual abuse and sex trafficking of young women.
The office of state Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced that the search was being done with the cooperation of the current ranch owners.
Torrez last month reopened an investigation of the ranch. New Mexico’s initial case was closed in 2019 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York, and state prosecutors say now that “revelations outlined in the previously sealed FBI files warrant further examination.”
Epstein purchased the sprawling Zorro Ranch in Stanley, New Mexico, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Santa Fe, in 1993 from former Democratic Gov. Bruce King and built a hilltop mansion with a private runway.
The property was sold by Epstein’s estate in 2023 — with proceeds going toward creditors — to the family of Don Huffines, a candidate in Texas for state comptroller who won the Republican primary last week.
“The New Mexico Department of Justice appreciates the cooperation of the current property owners,” the agency said in a statement. Prosecutors “will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Additionally, New Mexico state legislators have established a new commission to look into past activities at the ranch.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial in 2019 on charges that he sexually abused and trafficked dozens of underage girls.
Epstein never faced charges in New Mexico, but the state attorney general’s office in 2019 confirmed that it had interviewed possible victims who visited Epstein’s ranch.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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