New Mexico is a “fence out” state which means you must fence cattle, sheep, horses, etc. out. From the NM Livestock Board:
http://www.nmlbonline.com/documents/fencing1210.pdf
Also, national forests, including wilderness areas, allow cattle grazing. There are very few streams that are not polluted, at least somewhat, by livestock in the forest.
Thanks for posting that-very informative-
My first husband was from your lovely state, so I do remember encountering cattle wandering in the wilderness several times when we were hiking or rock hunting, and thought that odd. I never connected it to pollution of groundwater until you pointed it out, though. I knew it was different from Texas, but that was about as far as I thought about it-we really don’t have national forests, and our wilderness areas are newer than New Mexico’s, and so designated only for the wild animals and visiting humans.
Most of those places don’t allow you to let your dog on the trails, and you can’t even take leaves or seeds from the trees or plants out of the park.area-case in point is Lost Maples, which is nearby-I go there every fall, and don’t dare even bring out a leaf.
Loose cattle have caused fatal traffic accidents on rural roads, but it is not as common as it was when I was a kid because not only are the fines ruinous to the owner of the cow, but some ambulance chaser lawyer is likely to get ahold of the family members of the deceased driver and convince them to sue the rancher for negligence.