WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP) – Workers have begun surveying private land in North Texas along the Red River as part of a federal review that’s drawn heavy criticism from property owners who say the government is trying to seize their land.
Surveyors with the Bureau of Land Management began work Monday in Wichita County, the Times Record News of Wichita reported.
A federal judge recently ruled that the Bureau of Land Management can survey eight properties in the region.
The bureau in 2013 began a series of hearings on revising regulations on federal holdings in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The review has caused Texas ranchers to believe their land could be expropriated as part of the bureau’s updated Resource Management Plan.
The review in Texas involves up to 90,000 acres along the river, which marks the border with Oklahoma.