The head of the state livestock board says it can't roundup free-roaming horses from the mountain hamlet of Placitas.
The Coronado Soil and Water Conservation District agency on Monday ordered the state to remove the horses. But the Albuquerque Journal reports Wednesday that the board's executive director, Ray Baca, says the conservation district has no authority to issue such an order.
Baca says the livestock board will assist any way it legally can, but that the horses are the problem of Sandoval County and property owners in Placitas.
He says if the horses are on private property, the property owners have the right to impound the horses, which the conservation district says have caused extensive damage to the watershed, soil and landscape.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.