CHEYENNE (AP) - The state has filed a lawsuit to reopen a road that provides access to the Hawk Springs Recreational Area in southern Goshen County.

The park contains Hawk Springs Reservoir, a popular fishing, boating and camping spot. The state and the Horse Creek Conservation District had signed agreements in the 1980s to ensure public access to the area.

But last month, the conservation district sold 40 acres to a limited liability company. The land sold contained the access road.

The conservation district's attorney, Curtis Buchhammer, then notified the Wyoming Game and Fish Department that public use of the road leading to the recreation area "must be terminated."

Barbed wire was strung across the road, and signs warning people to keep out were posted.

Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank said Monday the agreement between the state and the conservation district is described in state law.

The state's lawsuit argues that while the present commissioners, directors and/or employees of the conservation district may not like the access agreements, which were made in 1983 and 1985, they are not at liberty to ignore state law or binding agreements.

Those agreements helped create the public recreation area, which includes both conservation district and state land. In exchange for a number of improvements, the state granted the district more than $6 million and the district agreed to give access in perpetuity, Crank said.

Despite the agreements, the conservation district and the state have been locked in a long-standing and complex dispute over the use of the reservoir's water.

Buchhammer said he had not seen the complaint and could not comment on it.

Crank said this is the first lawsuit of its kind that his office has filed, and it was preceded by an unusual action by the conservation district.