NEWS
Commissioner benefits, public loses in bighorn sheep transplant
The New Mexico Wildlife Federation has found that a State Game Commission member helped steer the relocation of more than 60 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to land his family owns in northeast New Mexico, then worked with the State Land Office to prohibit public access for hunting and fishing to his leased state land for the next 50 years.
There is no record in Game Commission meeting minutes that Leo V. Sims II told other commissioners the sheep herd was to be relocated to his family’s ranch in 2007 and 2008. Nor were they informed at the Oct. 28 Game Commission meeting in Ruidoso by either the Director of Game and Fish or the Game Commission chairman that Sims had asked to revoke public hunting and fishing access to his state lease lands. Ironically, Sims was at the Oct. 28 commission meeting to receive an award for his efforts on behalf of New Mexico wildlife during his commission tenure.
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The Albuquerque Journal said the “Bighorn deal stinks.” In a Nov. 20 editorial, the paper said: “This cozy deal smells of using a public appointment for personal gain…. It also present the incoming (Martinez) administration with yet another piece of work to try to undo.” Click here to read the full editorial (you may have to watch a short advertisement first.