There are no federally reserved water rights for the millions of acres of state trust land in New Mexico, the state Court of Appeals has ruled. In an important case involving water law in the West, the court rejected claims made by the State Land Office that a federal legal doctrine reserved water rights for lands granted to New Mexico by the federal government when it became a territory and then a state. At issue is a legal doctrine that recognizes water rights for tribal lands as well as federal lands that make up national forests, military bases and national parks. 

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