The Latest: Lawyer: Feds obligated to consider cultural ties

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on a court hearing of Hispanic ranchers’ claims against the federal government (all times local):

12:55 p.m.

An attorney for a group of Hispanic ranchers says the federal government failed to consider social, economic and cultural effects when deciding to limit grazing on historic land grants in northern New Mexico.

Simeon Herskovitz told a federal judge Thursday the U.S. Forest Service had an obligation to weigh previous recognitions by the agency that grazing was integral to maintaining the heritage and traditional values of the Hispanic people who have called the region home for centuries.

The ranchers filed their lawsuit in 2012. It chronicles a history in which they claim the property rights of Hispanics have been ignored and an institutional bias has been allowed to continue.

Efforts to get the Obama administration to address their concerns about discrimination and civil rights violations went unanswered.

A U.S. Justice Department attorney argued the Forest Service did not have to consider the ranchers’ cultural ties before limiting grazing in 2010.

It’s unclear when the judge could rule in the case.

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9:13 a.m.

It will be up to a federal judge to decide if Hispanic ranchers will get to pursue their 2012 discrimination case against the U.S. Forest Service over claims that the federal government is trying to push them from land that has been worked by their families for generations.

The dispute centers on a decision made more than six years ago to limit grazing in parts of northern New Mexico.

At stake, ranchers say, is a part of Hispanic culture and the economic viability of communities that depend on surrounding lands for everything from grazing to firewood.

The ranchers’ lawsuit chronicles a history in which they claim the property rights of Hispanics have been ignored and an institutional bias has been allowed to continue. Efforts in recent years to get the Obama administration to address their civil rights concerns went unanswered.