PART TWO: WATER ON THE RANGE
Drought draws cattle, wildlife to shrinking water supplies. Colfax County ranchers say private land carries growing burden as commissioners oppose proposed hunting-license limits
By Roger M. Rael
The Raton Range
RATON, N.M. — Seven livestock tanks have dried on Garland King’s sprawling Colfax County ranch, leaving wells, windmills and solar-powered pumps to carry a growing share of the burden as drought tightens its hold on northeastern New Mexico.
King’s operation includes approximately 900 cattle spread across about 30,000 acres. Although none of the ranch’s wells have failed, King said springs have dried, and surface water is disappearing.
“We’re pretty fortunate,” King said. “We’ve got windmills and wells.”
The ranch operates about 18 wells or livestock watering systems powered by wind, solar energy or electricity. That infrastructure, developed by earlier generations of the King family, has so far prevented the operation from facing an immediate livestock water emergency.
Grass, however, cannot be pumped from underground.
King estimated that his ranch has received roughly half the water available last year for growing grass. The shortage could affect how the family rotates cattle, brings in yearlings, harvests hay, and prepares for winter.
King said the family will probably have to ship yearlings earlier than normal. Some neighboring ranchers, he said, are already discussing early weaning or moving yearlings because their available grass is running out.
The choices are not necessarily signs that cattle are in immediate danger. Ranchers routinely adjust herd numbers and shipping schedules to match the amount of grass and water available. Sending cattle away early, however, can reduce the weight producers have available to sell and affect future income.
King’s son represents the fifth generation of the family’s ranching history in the region. King said his great-grandfather came from Seguin, Texas, in 1893 and operated a general store and bank in Folsom.
When homesteaders could not pay their bills, King said, his great-grandfather sometimes supplied them with flour and bacon until they could find work. King’s grandfather, beginning when he was about 10 years old, cared for animals left behind on abandoned homesteads.
That family history now faces a modern combination of drought, rising operating costs, and increasing competition for the grass and water that remain.
The pressure does not come from cattle alone.
King said elk moving across ranchland can consume grass producers intended to be reserved for livestock. Elk can also damage fences and alter grazing plans, he said.
“If those elk move, that’s just the same as dumping in a bunch of yearlings,” King said.
King’s concerns led The Raton Range to Colby and Kirk Kennedy, who have direct experience with ranching, outfitting and wildlife in northeastern New Mexico.
Kirk Kennedy said his family has ranched in the region for six generations and that he has worked in the outfitting business for approximately 48 years.
The Kennedys said drought is changing wildlife movement as elk, pronghorn and other animals search for water and forage. They said wildlife increasingly relies on water systems, fences and habitat maintained at the expense of ranchers and grazing-rights holders.
They also said large elk herds can damage fences, use livestock water and consume enough forage to alter cattle-management decisions.
The Kennedys did not provide invoices or other records supporting a countywide estimate of wildlife-related damage. The Raton Range is seeking documentation concerning fence damage, forage losses, water use and any state programs available to affected landowners.
The Kennedys also raised concerns about declining pronghorn numbers and the way the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish allocates public-land and private-land hunting licenses.
Kirk Kennedy estimated that the pronghorn population in parts of northeastern New Mexico has declined by as much as 80%. The Raton Range has not independently verified that estimate.
Kennedy alleged that state policy contributed to the decline and said license reductions proposed by the department do not match the severity of the population loss he believes has occurred.
The Department of Game and Fish has publicly acknowledged problems with pronghorn survival in northeastern New Mexico.
In 2025, the department said four years of aerial surveys showed decreases in fawn and adult female survival. The department capped private-land pronghorn licenses in Game Management Units 41, 42, 47, 56, 57, 58 and 59 for the 2025-26 license year.
The department’s 2026 proposed rule summary says pronghorn population growth is driven primarily by the survival of adult females and fawns rather than the harvest of male animals. The document lists weather, disease, predation, human-caused mortality and the availability of forage and concealment cover as factors that can affect survival.
Proposed changes include evaluating a ranch-registration system, considering a cap on over-the-counter private-land pronghorn licenses and adjusting license numbers to reflect changing herd conditions and management goals. The department says it remains engaged in reviewing biological data and public comments.
Those proposals have drawn formal opposition from the Colfax County Commission.
Commissioners voted unanimously July 21 to approve a resolution opposing a private-land license cap and what the resolution described as disproportionate public-land and private-land license allocations in proposed wildlife rules.
Commissioner Mary Lou Kern said she and Commissioner Si Trujillo requested the resolution.
Kern called the state’s proposal “ludicrous” and questioned why the proposed number of licenses available for public land in one northeastern game-management unit was nearly equal to the number allocated to private land, even though private property accounts for most of the land within that unit.
The percentages and license figures discussed during the meeting have not yet been independently confirmed by The Raton Range through department acreage records and final allocation tables.
Commissioners also said hunting supports more than individual hunters and landowners.
Revenue from hunting, guiding and outfitting can help ranchers maintain their operations, pay property taxes and employ local residents. One commissioner said private ranches that benefit from hunting revenue often use that money to manage habitat and maintain property used by wildlife.
The resolution does not change New Mexico hunting regulations. It records the county’s opposition and calls on state officials to reconsider the proposed rules.
The commission directed the Colfax County clerk to immediately distribute the resolution to each member of the State Wildlife Commission, the Governor’s Office, the New Mexico commissioner of public lands, state legislators representing Colfax County and the New Mexico Association of Counties.
County officials also directed that the resolution be submitted to the official public-comment records for the proposed wildlife rules.
The county posted its July 21 regular meeting agenda and commission packet on its official website. The final signed resolution had not appeared on the county’s online resolution index when this article was prepared.
The Department of Game and Fish is accepting public comments as it develops new deer, elk and pronghorn rules. The State Wildlife Commission is expected to consider public comments, harvest information, survey data, biological information and management goals before adopting final rules.
The Raton Range is submitting public-records requests to Colfax County and the Department of Game and Fish seeking the signed county resolution, wildlife population surveys, license allocations, hunter-success rates, biological reports and communications involving the proposed rules.
The newspaper will also seek records showing how the department calculates public-land and private-land license numbers and whether drought conditions are considered when those allocations are established.
For King and other Colfax County ranchers, the policy debate is unfolding while immediate decisions are already being made on the ground.
Wells may keep cattle alive when ponds and springs disappear, but they cannot replace grass that never grew. Wildlife searching for the same shrinking resources adds another layer of pressure, while proposed changes to hunting licenses could affect income used to keep ranches operating.
The drought, wildlife-management dispute and county resolution are no longer separate issues. Together, they raise a larger question about who pays to maintain the water, fences and habitat supporting both livestock and publicly managed wildlife across northeastern New Mexico.
This is Part Two of The Raton Range’s continuing Water on the Range investigation. Future reports will examine state wildlife data, hunting-license allocations, private-land economics and the Department of Game and Fish’s response to concerns raised by ranchers, outfitters and Colfax County officials.
