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— Sharon Salazar Hickey
FILE - In this June 18, 2021 photo, New Mexico State Game Commission Chairwoman Sharon Salazar Hickey, left, announces a delay in deliberation about public access to waterways at a public meeting in Santa Fe, N.M. The New Mexico Supreme Court is scheduled Tuesday, March 1, 2022, to hear arguments in a case over whether the public has a right to fish or float on streams and other waterways that flow through private property. The commission, which oversees wildlife conservation and hunting and fishing regulations, voted last year against several landowners who sought to restrict access to streams and rivers crossing their property.(AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)
Morgan Lee/AP / AP
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Supreme Court has found that a rule allowing private landowners to limit public access to streams and rivers is unconstitutional. The court announced its decision Tuesday after hearing oral arguments in a case that centered on whether the public has a right to fish or float on streams and other waterways that flow through private property. While the debate over stream access has been ongoing across the West for years, the New Mexico court provided more clarity with its ruling on a petition filed by a coalition of anglers, rafters and conservationists.