The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear arguments from New Mexico landowners who sought to overturn a state high court ruling last year that allows public access to streams and rivers that flow through private property.
Justices on Monday rejected a petition seeking a review of the New Mexico Supreme Court ruling supporting the public’s right to access state waterways for recreational purposes.
In rejecting the petition, justices cut off efforts by private landowners to limit access by fishermen, boaters and other recreational users.
One of the property owners who sought the Supreme Court review said Tuesday the issue remains far from resolved.
“This isn’t going to end here, I can tell you that,” said Dan Perry, owner of Chama Troutstalkers LLC, one of the petitioners who sought the review. “There are many legal things I can do.”
Perry, who owns a ranch on the Chama River about 2 miles south of Chama, said his property value has declined significantly as a result of public access to his property.
“I believe now that, under the Fifth Amendment, that the state of New Mexico has taken my private property rights from me, so I probably have a cause of action to sue for the loss in value of my property,” he said.
Landowners may also seek a change in the state’s Constitution protecting private property rights, he said.
Perry said he has invested significant amounts of money to improve trout populations and the riparian environment on his two-mile section of the Chama River, which has been damaged by public access.
Perry and other landowners argued in their petition to the U.S. Supreme Court that the state decision represented an illegal “taking” by the government.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., cheered the U.S. Supreme Court decision as a victory for the public.
“Every New Mexican has a right to enjoy our public streams — it’s in our state constitution and it’s what I’ve spent years fighting for in our state courts,” Heinrich said in a written statement issued Tuesday.
“Last year, the New Mexico Supreme Court reaffirmed this right,” Heinrich said. “Now the United States Supreme Court has effectively reaffirmed it, too, by ending the appeal brought by those who tried to privatize our waters for the benefit of wealthy landowners with out-of-state ties.”
New Mexico’s highest court ruled last year that a Game Commission rule was unconstitutional that allowed landowners to restrict access to waterways that flow through their properties.
That ruling marked a victory for kayaking and fishing groups and a defeat for landowners who saw the rule as key to protecting private property rights.
