Socorro, Catron and Sierra Counties are creating a County Livestock Loss Authority to help ranchers get compensation for cattle lost to wolves and to reduce adverse wolf and livestock interactions.

Sierra County will be the fiscal agent for the entity. Socorro County commissioners discussed the agreement to create the Livestock Loss Authority in their Sept. 27 meeting.

According to the three-county agreement, the Loss Authority will try to access available federal, state and private funding to help ranchers who have had an economic impact from the Mexican Grey Wolf Recovery Program.

The Mexican wolf was listed as endangered in 1976, and the recovery program released the first captive wolves into Arizona and New Mexico in 1998. There are existing ways that livestock producers are compensated for depredation of livestock. The new entity would help ranchers navigate receiving those funds.

Commissioner Glen Duggins said cattle do not breed as well with a wolf hanging around, during a discussion of the proposal.

Some producers have almost been wiped out, said County Attorney Adren Nance.

“It looks like we’ll have a fair amount of funding, which is great, and I think we’ll get even more next year, which is sorely needed,” said Nance. “When you go from a 90 percent calf crop to a 10 percent calf crop, you just really can’t stay in business.”

In other business, the Commissioners heard from Hop Canyon Road residents who are frustrated with ongoing flooding issues in their area. The county has been trying to acquire funding from NMDOT to get an engineering study done to properly alleviate the flooding issues. That application for funding was recently rejected.

Two Hop Canyon residents discussed the economic and psychological impact that the ongoing flooding has had on them.

One resident, Janet Cliff, said that her property taxes were reduced this year because all of the flooding has reduced her property value. She attributes the flooding issues on her property for the last four years to a county drainage improvement that redirected water to her land and driveway.