Environmentalists are raising concerns about a New Mexico congressman’s bill that would clarify ways that state and local governments could establish claims over old paths and tracks on public lands. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-New Mexico, is proposing that state law would define what a road is, but local governments would be allowed to claim byways that appear on maps and aerial photos made before 1976, according to The Albuquerque Tribune. A spokeswoman for the Wilderness Society called the bill “the mother of all public land giveaways.”
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2006/oct/04/some-concerned-over-land-claim-bill/