NEWS
Bingaman legislation would benefit sportsmen, habitat
Sen. Jeff Bingaman and two fellow senators have introduced legislation that would benefit sportsmen by providing dedicated funding to help wildlife and our natural resources adapt to climate change.
The Natural Resources Climate Adaptation Act of 2009, S. 1933, dedicates funding to address the harmful effects that warmer temperatures, invasive species and other climate-related problems are having on wildlife habitat and on those who depend on natural resources for their recreation or income.
The bill got a warm welcome from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Similar legislation was passed by the U.S. House in May. Both measures dedicate funding to natural resource management agencies such as the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to address the effects of climate change on habitat and wildlife.
September 2009 Game Commission meeting report
The State Game Commission met in Las Cruces on Thursday, Sept. 24. Click here to learn more about Game Game actions and discussion.
Commission adopts boundary change in GMU 6
The State Game Commission approved a minor change in the boundary lines between GMUs 6A and 6C. The move went against a recommendation by the Department of Game and Fish. Click here to read the option approved by the commission, as well as pros and cons to the plan as written by the department.
New deer rules approved
The State Game Commission recently approved changes to the deer license regulations. Click here to read the changes.
Southern NM habitat bill introduced
Sportsmen around New Mexico applaud the Sept. 18 announcement by U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall that they introduced legislation to protect critical wildlife habitat in southern New Mexico.
The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act creates wilderness and conservation areas that would provide for continued hunting and other public use while protecting the granite peaks of the Organ Mountains and the volcanic cinder cones of the Potrillo Mountains, among other public lands in Dona Ana County.
“The Organ Mountains are the backdrop for one of the most breathtaking scenic views in our state,” Bingaman said in a statement. “Dona Ana County residents have been working for years to develop plans that would ensure these views are protected. I’m very glad that we now have a bill that will do just that even while ensuring the public continues to have access to this extraordinary space.”
Udall added, “This legislation will celebrate and preserve a portion of the spectacular landscapes that make southern New Mexico unique. I am proud to join with Senator Bingaman in introducing a bill that protects this precious land for future generations to hunt, fish, hike or just enjoy our state’s incomparable natural environment.”
The legislation creates 259,000 acres of wilderness and 100,000 acres of National Conservation Area. These areas would be managed in ways that protect the landscape from development while preserving current uses, such as hunting and grazing.
The bill also releases 16,350 acres along the southern border that had been designated as so-called “Wilderness Study Area.” This will provide increased flexibility for border law enforcement, Bingaman’s office said.
The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Wilderness Act has been referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Bingaman chairs. Bingaman plans to schedule a hearing on the bill this fall.
Click here to read more about the measure.
Quail Unlimited (Las Cruces chapter) Code of Ethics
The Las Cruces chapter of Quail Unlimited recently approved a Code of Ethics. Click here to read the code.
EPA groundwater contamination report
The EPA issued a report in August on its preliminary findings of groundwater contamination near oil and gas wells in Wyoming. The agency’s investigation continues, but in this preliminary report it says that fracturing fluids cannot be ruled out as a source of contamination. Click here to read the EPA report.
Energy bill includes money for natural resources
With the support of all three New Mexico delegates, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the landmark legislation known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 in late June, including a key provision that will benefit sportsmen for decades to come.
Overall, the measure aims to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and is expected to create hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs. It also dedicates millions of dollars a year to help public lands and wildlife adapt to rising temperatures and increased droughts that are predicted in the Southwest.
Rep. Martin Heinrich of Albuquerque helped insert language in the bill that strengthens the so-called adaptation funding provision by ensuring it is not diverted for other purposes. “Generations to come will have a healthier world to enjoy because of the action Congress is taking to address global climate change,” Heinrich said in a statement. “And New Mexico’s sportsmen will be able to pass on their hunting and fishing heritage thanks to the natural resources funding in the bill that will help our land, water and wildlife adapt to a changing climate.”
Rep. Ben Ray Lujan also applauded the measure and its focus on natural resource protection. “The American Clean Energy and Security Act will help reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs and save billions in the long run, but it will also protect our treasured lands and our magnificent natural resources. The bill specifically dedicates funding to help our wildlife and public lands adapt to climate change, which will keep our streams, ponds and lands healthy so generations can enjoy New Mexico’s land and wildlife for generations to come.”
The adaptation funding provision dedicates a small portion of the cap-and-trade revenue to state, federal and tribal natural resource agencies. The state funding would go directly to the Department of Game and Fish. At the levels contained in the House bill, the state would receive several million dollars in the first year of the program, 2012, but that level would rise substantially in the future.
A national Natural Resources Climate Change Adaptation Strategy would need to be developed within two years. The national strategy would need to include prioritized goals and measures, a schedule for identifying, monitoring and conserving natural resources threatened by climate change. The bill defines “natural resources adaptation” as “protection, restoration or conservation of natural resources to enable them to become more resilient, adapt to, and withstand the impacts of climate change.”
NMDGF would need to create a State Climate Adaptation Plan, and funding for all activities would need to flow from this plan. (Under the bill, funding would be provided to the NMDGF to create the State Climate Adaptation Plan. This would be funding in addition to the monies for the conservation activities themselves.) The State Climate Adaptation Plan would need to be consistent with the national Natural Resources Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. Adaptation activities in the state plans must also be consistent with the NM State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), an the strategy must be incorporated into the NM SWAP itself.
The U.S. Senate will take up a similar measure this summer. Sportsmen should encourage New Mexico Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall to support the bill and strengthen the provision that dedicates funding to natural resource adaptation.
Legal battle to protect Otero Mesa pays off
Responsible energy development will have another chance at Otero Mesa. The state of New Mexico’s recommendations to protect core habitat and groundwater were ignored by the Bureau of Land Management under the Bush administration, and plans were made to drill. Thanks to an important federal court ruling, the BLM will now be sent back to the drawing board, giving us another chance to move forward a more responsible plan for oil and gas drilling in the area.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in late April ruled that the BLM failed to follow national environmental law in its plan to develop oil and natural gas on Otero Mesa and that it must at least consider the idea of no drilling in the area in southern New Mexico. The court said BLM did not consider alternatives to surface drilling that would protect the fragile habitat and water resources of Otero Mesa, and that the agency didn’t adequately analyze the likely impacts of the plan it proposed to permit gas and oil development. NMWF was one of several groups that joined the state to protest the Otero Mesa plan in 2005.
Unless BLM appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and wins, the decision essentially means the agency must go back to the drawing boards before it can proceed with oil and gas development on the 1.6 million-acre Otero Mesa. Attorney General Gary King said in a statement that BLM will likely have to complete an environmental impact statement on the entire Otero Mesa management plan, consider closing Otero Mesa to development and conduct further analysis before leasing can be done.
Sen. Bingaman on a roll for sportsmen
Sen. Jeff Bingaman has been busy on behalf of conservation-minded New Mexico sportsmen this spring, sponsoring several measures that will protect access to public lands for hunting and fishing and ensuring those lands remain healthy for wildlife.
His Omnibus Public Lands Management Act was signed into law in March, drawing accolades from Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Shortly afterward, the state’s senior senator introduced legislation to overhaul the 1872 Mining Law. That was followed by another new bill protecting valuable wildlife habitat in the Rio Grande Gorge area.
And as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Bingaman can be expected to remain in the news as Congress tackles legislation to rein in greenhouse gas pollution and dedicate funding to protect and restore habitat that is critical for wildlife and sportsmen.
Public lands chief tips hat to NM delegation
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was in Albuquerque in late April to praise the omnibus public lands bill sponsored by Bingaman and signed into law. Salazar tipped his trademark Stetsonto Bingaman and the rest of New Mexico’s congressional delegation for passing the bill, which will protect public hunting and fishing grounds across the West, including the Sabinoso area east of Las Vegas, N.M.
Among other highlights for New Mexico, the bill authorizes a study of the Salt Basin aquifer beneath Otero Mesa, as a prerequisite to oil and gas development; protects the Snowy River Cave in Lincoln County by designating it as national conservation area; creates the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument near Las Cruces to preserve dinosaur tracks, and establishes water delivery systems in both eastern and northwestern New Mexico.
Congress to take up Bingaman’s Mining Act reform bill
Shortly after passage of the omnibus public lands bill, Bingaman introduced a measure strongly supported by sportsmen to overhaul the 1872 Mining Act, an antiquated law that allows irresponsible development of hard-rock mining throughout the country, particularly in the West - and still allows sale of our public lands for as little as $2.50 an acre.
The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009 would make “responsible changes,” Bingaman said in a statement, to the law that has governed mineral extraction on federal lands since Ulysses S. Grant was president. The bill would require mining companies to pay for publicly owned minerals and uses that funding to reclaim abandoned mines and restore wildlife habitat. The bill would also eliminate the sale of public lands to mining companies, and instead establishes a leasing system allowing lands to remain in public ownership.
Several New Mexico communities have passed resolutions in support of the reform measure. The most recent was the Village of Questa, which is home to the massive Molycorp molybdenum mine. Questa joins a growing list of cities, counties and state agencies in New Mexico calling for congressional overhaul of the Mining Act, including Albuquerque and Las Cruces and the State Game Commission.
In a statement, Bingaman’s office said the original law was passed to help settle the West. “Past efforts to bring this law up to date, to make sure that Americans receive a reasonable return for public resources and to modernize land management requirements, have failed,” his office said. “That doesn’t make any sense to Chairman Bingaman, given the economic challenges that our nation currently faces and given concerns about the public health, safety and environmental issues that mining - and in particular abandoned mine sites - can raise.”
Click here to read the text of the bill.
Rio Grande Gorge area eyed for protection
On the heels of his mining-reform bill, Bingaman and Sen. Tom Udall announced legislation to protect large tracts around the Rio Grande Gorge in Taos and Rio Arriba counties and preserve them as prime public hunting and fishing areas. El Rio Grande del Norte National Conservation Area Establishment Act would classify almost 215,000 acres of public land along the Rio Grande Gorge as a national conservation area. Another 21,000 acres in two other tracts - around Ute Mountain and along the Rio San Antonio - would be designated as wilderness.
Altogether, the bill would protect key elk wintering grounds and migratory corridors along the plateau between Ute Mountain and San Antonio Mountain, as well as protect habitat for other game species and birds of prey. Click here for more information.