MEXICO CITY, Sept 24 (Reuters) - U.S. construction firm

Vulcan Materials ( VMC ) said on Tuesday it planned to defend

itself using all available legal avenues after Mexico declared

land that contains a company-run limestone quarry and port on

the Riviera Maya as a nature reserve.

Late on Monday, Mexico's government decreed that a vast

tract of land stretching from Playa del Carmen to Tulum to be a

protected natural reserve, including Vulcan's operations.

Outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has

long criticized

Vulcan's activities as damaging to the environment, and

officials ordered a halt to limestone quarrying by Vulcan's

Calica unit two years ago.

Vulcan, meanwhile, has accused the Mexican government of

illegally expropriating its local investments and is demanding

more than $1.5 billion in compensation via arbitration mediated

by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment

Disputes (ICSID).

On Tuesday, Vulcan called the move a "new violation" of

Mexico's commitments to regional trade agreements, including the

USMCA North American trade pact, and said it will have a

chilling and long-term effect on U.S.-Mexico trade and

investment.