New Mexico Land Grant-Mercedes Historical or Traditional Use Cooperation and Coordination Act

This bill, titled the "New Mexico Land Grant-Mercedes Historical or Traditional Use Cooperation and Coordination Act," seeks to foster greater cooperation and coordination between federal agencies and the governing bodies and community users of qualified land grant-mercedes in New Mexico. Its primary goal is to facilitate the continuation of historical or traditional uses on Federal public land, which are defined as long-established, noncommercial activities like gathering herbs, wood, or flora, grazing, subsistence hunting, and maintaining existing infrastructure. A central provision requires the Secretary of Agriculture or the Interior to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the New Mexico Land Grant Council within two years. This MOU will detail processes for obtaining permits and land use authorizations for traditional uses, describe potential fee reductions or waivers based on socioeconomic conditions, and outline procedures for routine maintenance and minor improvements of infrastructure used by land grant-mercedes on federal land. The bill also mandates that federal land use plans consider and evaluate the impact of other uses on these historical or traditional practices. Importantly, the legislation clarifies that it does not modify, limit, or expand any existing treaty-reserved rights or obligations to Indian Tribes, nor does it affect state authority over water or game management, or create any new implicit or explicit rights to federal land use.