The New Mexico Wildlife Federation strongly supports SB 312, now pending in the Legislature. However, at a couple of hundred pages, wading through this bill can be intimidating.
The NMWF has prepared the following key to help readers sort out the details of this important bill.
The “Wildlife Heritage Act” was introduced by Sen. Jeff Steinborn and Rep. Nathan Small, both Las Cruces Democrats. The bill would change the name of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to the Department of Wildlife Conservation and expand the department’s mission to address the needs of non-game species.
The bill also would repeal a provision that allows landowners to kill deer, elk and other protected wildlife without department permission or oversight because the wildlife posed a perceived threat to their crops.
The bill would expand New Mexico’s definition of “waste of game” to prohibit leaving edible portions of bear, cougar and javelina in the field.
The bill also would eliminate the current set-aside that earmarks 10 percent of public draw tags for hunters who retain outfitters, bringing resident hunters another 1,000 tags a year.
Here’s the NMWF index to this critical legislation:
| Name Change | Changes name from ‘Department of Game & Fish’ to ‘Department of Wildlife Conservation’ - 181 of the bill’s 198 sections cover only name changes. The 17 remaining sections are covered below. |
| Authority to Conserve All Wildlife | Updates “Declaration of Policy” to include all wildlife. The agency already protects some non-game such as songbirds, reptiles, amphibians and raptors, but the mission statement has never before been updated to reflect this increased mission. Section 14, page 17 Clarifies that additional wildlife species may be protected and that “near and long term changes in climate” can be taken into consideration rather than just “zones of temperatures.” Section 39 & 148, pages 40 & 166 Provides authority to the Wildlife Conservation Commission to protect additional wildlife species. Section 43, page 44 |
| Depredation | Ends wasteful slaughter of game by ensuring that landowners killing animals for depredation must follow commission rules for weapon type, what species may be killed, when animals may be killed, etc. Section 50, page 51 Clarifies that the “Big Game Depredation Damage Fund” may be used to help with administration of the depredation program. Section 93, page 117 |
| Hunting & License Updates | Adds javelina, bear and cougar to “waste of game statute” requiring that game meat is not wasted. Section 51, page 54 Offsets budget impact of increasing resident quota to 90 percent through non-resident standard elk hunting licenses. Section 90, page 112 Changes resident quota for big game hunting licenses from 84 to 90 percent. Section 100 & 193, pages 121 &236 Commission may revoke a trapping license for the same amount of time as hunting and fishing licenses. Section 153, page 171 |
Funding and Appropriations | Defines “Species of Greatest Conservation Need” from the State Wildlife Action Plan. Section 147, page 165 Appropriates $1 million for Species of Greatest Conservation Need, and $1 million for the name change. Section 195, page 240 Changes “should fund” back to “shall fund” for the Wildlife Conservation Act. This restores original language to the WCA. Does not specify how much funding but restores a commitment that hunters and anglers will not continue to be the sole source of support for state wildlife funding. Section 78, page 86 |
| Effective Dates | Sets repeal and effective dates for legislation. Sections 196 through Sections 198, page 241 |
Having Trouble Reading the Index? Try it in Google Docs