ELR Citation: 52 ELR 20105
No(s). S-1-SC-38195 (N.M. Sep 1, 2022)

The New Mexico Supreme Court overturned regulations promulgated by the State Game Commission in 2017 that outlined a process for landowners to obtain a certificate allowing them to close public access to segments of public water flowing over private property. Outdoor recreation advocates challenged the constitutionality of the regulations and the Commission’s authority to promulgate them. The high court found that the public has the right, under Article XVI, Section 2 of the New Mexico Constitution, to recreate and fish in public waters and that that right includes “the privilege to do such acts as are reasonably necessary to effect the enjoyment of such right,” like walking and wading on privately owned beds beneath public water. It thus concluded that the regulations were an unconstitutional infringement on the public’s right to use public waters and that the Commission lacked the legislative authority to promulgate them.