NEWS
Jim Lane hired as Director of Game and Fish
Jim Lane, head of the Wildlife Management Division since 2009, will be the next director of the Department of Game and Fish. He takes over for Tod Stevenson, who is retiring after 33 years with the department including three as director. For more on the announcement, click here.
Governor removes Game Commission member
Gov. Susana Martinez removed Game Commission member Jerry Maracchini without providing sportsmen any explanation and replaced him with Robert Espinoza, executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. Maracchini, a former director of Game and Fish, had actively reached out to the sportsmen of northeast New Mexico, unlike the commissioners of most other regions.
Espinoza now represents northwest New Mexico. He has frequently opposed efforts to provide New Mexico resident hunters with additional big game licenses. He joined forces with the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and the New Mexico Council of Outfitters and Guides to oppose revisions to the A-PLUS regulations as well as an attempt to give New Mexico residents 90 percent of Big Game Draw licenses.
Representing northeast New Mexico is Scott Bidegain of Tucumcari. He works for his family’s ranch, T-4 Cattle Co., and is on the board of directors of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association.
Southeast New Mexico is represented by Bill Montoya of Alto, a longtime Game and Fish employee who was director from 1988-94.
Representing Southwest New Mexico is Rob Hoffman of Las Cruces, a retired chemistry professor at New Mexico State University and currently the vice-president of New Mexico Quail Inc.
Current members Jim McClintic, Tom Arvas and Dickie Salopek will remain on the commission. McClintic apparently holds the statewide seat representing the conservation community, despite the fact that he has never been active in conservation issues. He lives in Albuquerque. Arvas is supposed to represent the sportsmen of Bernalillo County. He and McClintic were both major campaign donors to former Gov. Bill Richardson. McClintic’s construction company also gave $3,000 to Martinez just days before the 2010 election. Salopek, a Las Cruces pecan farmer, was appointed to represent the agriculture community,
Stevenson retiring; ask governor to conduct full, open search for replacement
Tod Stevenson, director of the Department of Game and Fish, will retire in late October. The State Game Commission should do a full and open search and make the finalists’ names public before choosing a replacement. Sportsmen need to encourage Gov. Susana Martinez to demand the Game Commission conduct a proper search.
Anti-public lands efforts rise again in Congress
The U.S. House approved a budget bill in February that takes aim at conservation programs long supported by hunters and anglers. The measure, House Resolution 1, trims the $3.7 trillion nation budget by a mere $60 billion. But anti-public lands forces saddled sportsmen with a disproportionate share of the sacrifice - nearly $2 billion in cuts to programs that have helped create and preserve healthy public lands and waters where everyday sportsmen can hunt, fish and pass on their family traditions to the next generation.
HR1 would:
* Zero out funding for the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, which has protected 25 million acres of waterfowl habitat and hunting opportunity nationwide including 7,300 acres in the Rio Grande valley alone.
* Cut $348 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which has helped protect some of New Mexico’s public lands treasures including the Valles Caldera.
* Eliminate State Wildlife Grants that enable agencies like the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to effectively manage wildlife and save
taxpayer dollars by protecting fish and wildlife before they become endangered species.
* Prohibit federal agencies from considering changes to the Clean Water Act that would protect 20 million acres of waterfowl breeding habitat including New Mexico’s playa lakes.
* Cut Farm Bill conservation programs that help landowners protect the wildlife values on their private land.
More than 30 national hunting and fishing organizations that opposed HR 1 have voiced support for reasonable actions to reduce the federal budget deficit. Sportsmen pump nearly $80 billion into the U.S. economy each year, creating thousands of jobs that generate substantial tax revenue for the federal treasury. Reducing or eliminating valuable conservation programs will undermine the economy yet have virtually no effect on the budget deficit.
So far, the Senate has rejected HR1, but sportsmen are urged to write to the New Mexico delegation in Congress about the bill. Thank them for standing up for the rights of sportsmen and opposing HR1. Tell them that hunters and anglers depend on healthy wildlife habitat and public lands and to please fight efforts in Congress that degrade wildlife habitat and the public lands that sportsmen rely on. Click here for the delegation’s contact information.
State Game Commission: A Blueprint for Restoring New Mexico Sportsmen’s Trust
Due to an intrusion of pay-to-play and special interest appointments to the five public seats on the State Game Commission, the commission has lost the trust of many rank-and-file hunters and anglers in New Mexico, who through their license fees and taxes on equipment fund the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish that the commission oversees.
This special report by the New Mexico Wildlife Federation contains a summary of problems created by the way in which past governors have made appointments to the State Game Commission and a blueprint that Governor-elect Susana Martinez can use to restore the trust of everyday hunters and anglers in New Mexico.
Click here to read the full report.
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.
Click here to read the full report.
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.
Game Commission Postpones Antelope Decision
The New Mexico State Game Commission postponed a decision on the controversial A-PLUS system at its Ruidoso meeting last week. The commission will take up the issue again Thursday, December 9 in Clovis.
The A-PLUS system is the main reason that New Mexico has one of the lowest percentages of antelope hunting opportunity going to residents of any western state.
Few sportsmen attended the Thursday meeting, but New Mexico Wildlife Federation delivered petitions and letters signed by over 6,000 New Mexico sportsmen like you asking for substantial improvement to the lopsided allocation of hunting licenses. NMWF asked commissioners to reject the only option presented to the commission because it did little to improve resident hunting opportunity and also took two important steps backward from the status quo.
The option presented on Thursday would have changed antelope hunting for the worse in two ways:
First, the proposal would have changed all transferable “landowner” authorizations from ranch-only licenses to unit-wide licenses after the first hunt day, creating a new monetary incentive for landowners without good hunting opportunity to enroll in the A-PLUS program: The valuable unit-wide licenses could be used on any public land after the first day of the hunt.
Second, the proposal would have changed trespass rules for antelope so that antelope hunters could be cited as poachers for accidentally crossing an unmarked, unfenced boundary—and would have also created a confusing and inconsistent system of determining whether access roads are public or private.
A majority of ranchers and outfitters present at the lightly attended meeting spoke in favor of the department’s proposal. The only other sportsmen organization representative to speak at the meeting on Thursday was Robert Espinoza, Executive Director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. Espinoza spoke in support of the department proposal that included the changed trespass rules and provision to make all landowner authorizations unit-wide. Espinoza also told the commission “a majority of sportsmen now support this option.”
Unfortunately the department did not disclose to the commission how many comments it had received for or against its preferred option, but at the Albuquerque game commission meeting in August department data showed that a majority of comments did not favor their proposal.
Following public testimony, Commissioner Kent Salazar made a motion to both remove the provisions that would have changed trespass rules and keep transferable landowner authorizations as ranch-only, while still allowing big game draw hunters who did not harvest an antelope to move within the hunting unit on the second and third day to other public lands or private land with written permission.
The commission then passed the department’s A-PLUS rule with those changes.
After a short break, however, the commission re-convened and Commissioner Tom Arvas announced that he thought the commission should reconsider its earlier motion because of “confusion about what we are doing and what we have already done.”
The department had not clearly explained that its new proposal changed trespass rules and made all licenses unit-wide in either its online documents or in presentation to the commission. Those changes had only been explained through NMWF action alert. Apparently some members of the commission and audience were not fully aware of what the department’s proposal contained even after the rule had been approved.
After several failed attempts to make the correct motion, the commission voted to rescind its action and postpone any decision until the next commission meeting.
Antelope License Allocation History
The resalable license system for antelope began decades ago as a way to incentivize private landowners to allow free public hunting access. The system used to be guided by law and offered licenses to landowners who entered into an agreement with the department to permit free public hunting access on their ranch. The law allocated the landowner one (1) antelope license for the first five (5) draw licenses sold by the department, and one additional license for every 10 licenses sold. The law also ensured that resalable licenses could not exceed 20 percent of all antelope hunting opportunity. The year before the law was repealed, more than 81 percent of antelope licenses were sold through the big game draw.
Colorado and Utah today have systems similar to that old New Mexico system.
Several decades ago the law that guided New Mexico’s system was repealed, however, and it was left to the NM Department of Game and Fish and Game Commission to administer the resalable licensing system in any way it saw fit. The department never developed any rules to guide the allocation of resalable hunting licenses, and over time the department even stopped publishing the total number of licenses it allocated as resalable permits.
Over the last 30 years, the proportion of antelope hunting opportunity allocated through the big game draw has fallen to just 29 percent of total hunting opportunity.
It was not widely known until recently—even by many who worked for the department—that the transferable license system had quietly grown to encompass about 70 percent of all antelope hunting licenses. The system has also changed over time from an incentive program that traded public licenses for public access to an entitlement program that essentially privatizes access to most antelope hunting licenses.
New Mexico Wildlife Federation began looking into current and historical license allocations after receiving many member complaints that they could not draw a license and thought something was wrong. Our analysis clearly shows a historical trend of declining opportunity for resident hunters as an increasing percentage of licenses for both elk and antelope are given out as transferable “landowner” authorizations, bypassing the big game quota.
When the game department last year announced its intention to formalize the A-PLUS system, it could have prioritized a reversal of that trend. New public awareness and widespread desire from hunters for a better system presented the department with good reason to analyze other western states and present the commission with a suite of viable options.
Although the current director and assistant directors at the department chose to allow just one additional alternative to their “preferred option” or no rule at all, the third option presented at the August game commission meeting was a straight draw. A straight draw is the standard in most other states and was used for deer in New Mexico without problems for years. But instead of allowing staff to develop a plan detailing to the best of their professional ability how a straight draw would work for the public and the commission, the directorate focused on maintaining the status quo and revenue from non-resident licenses.
The straight draw option still received the most comments of support—largely from license-buying sportsmen and a few landowners, but it was not even presented at Thursday’s meeting.
Despite this current director’s unwillingness to tackle the issue proactively, the system will need to change if resident hunters are going to get a fair shake.
Bear and Cougar Limits Increased
The commission also voted on Thursday to substantially increase harvest limits for bear and cougar from previous levels. The commission changed bear harvest limits little from the department’s proposal, changing only the Sandia and Manzano populations from a goal of reduction of the population to a stabilization of the population. The commission also voted in favor of the experimental spring bear hunt in the Valle Vidal, but ordered the department to study the impacts to cub and calf survival.
Cougar harvest limits were decreased from 996 to 742 by the department the day before the meeting, roughly splitting the difference between the current level of 490. Commission Chairman Jim McClintic said he asked department staff to make the downward revisions, in violation of the commission’s public notice policy, to address public comment they had gotten. It was not made clear nor did any commissioner ask why the changes were not made in time to meet the 30-day-notice policy. Department Director Tod Stevenson said the number (almost exactly halfway between the current and originally proposed harvest levels) was set using science as the basis.
Read more in the Albuquerque Journal: www.abqjournal.com/news/state/2902182124newsstate10-29-10.htm (You may have to watch a brief advertisement.)
Temporary Trapping Ban Passed for Gila
The commission approved a ban on trapping in the Gila region to coordinate with an executive order made by Governor Richardson. The ban will be in place for six months while the department conducts a study on ways in which trapping could be conducted to minimize impacts to Mexican Gray Wolves. The department clarified that the temporary ban does not apply to coyote trapping, or any trapping on private land.
Speak up for a change in antelope hunting opportunity
In early August the Department of Game and Fish released three options for revising the A-PLUS program, which has given certain landowners about 70 percent of antelope hunting opportunity to sell, use or throw away. Options 1 and 2 would continue A-PLUS with little or no change. Thousands of sportsmen are supporting Option 3, which would put most licenses in the Big Game Draw. Landowners who agreed to allow draw hunters on their land could get a single license for their own use as state law allows, and could negotiate a fee for access from individual hunters. Every other western state relies mostly or totally on the method outlined in Option 3, with good results.
But the Department released no details or analysis of the options in order to have informed comments and an informed decision by the State Game Commission. NMWF and hundreds of sportsmen requested a full analysis of all three options; just days before the Game Commission’s Aug. 28 meeting, the department released its analysis - of Option 3 only. But instead of shedding light on the option that is preferred by thousands of resident hunters, the department instead made the case to dismiss it.
The analysis fails to show how the straight draw option could be made to work, and instead relies on unsubstantiated fears to make a case that Option 3 will not work. It can work (other western states are prime examples of how this system works quite well.) But the department leadership apparently has chosen not to give a fair and unbiased analysis. Sportsmen need to speak up and demand that the nay-saying end and that the department leadership adopt a new, can-do attitude toward improving the hunting opportunity for New Mexico residents.
What’s wrong with the department analysis?
First, it breaks what had been a single option (Option 3) into four versions. And by posting the options this week, New Mexico hunters have far less than the 30 days required by law to consider the new options before Saturday’s meeting. Hundreds of hunters have already submitted comments based on the original three options.
Second, the analysis for the original Option 3 (now known as Option 3A) is based on “potential” problems plenty of other western states have successfully dealt with and historical financial data not reflective of the potential hunting opportunity potential of Option 3.
Third, the three new sub-options (3B, 3C and 3D) are fundamentally different options that do little or nothing to improve resident hunting opportunity. Here is a summation:
Option 3B would reduce hunting opportunity from current levels by roughly 70 percent by falsely assuming that draw hunters would only hunt on public land - even though hunting on private land would be allowed with landowners’ permission and trespass fees. It also seems to assert antelope do not move from public to private land and vice-versa. From a biological management perspective, this proposal seems at best ridiculous because a unit with all or mostly private land would receive zero hunting licenses.
Option 3C would offer unlimited over-the-counter licenses for private land, as is currently allowed for deer - an idea that was included in early planning for the A-PLUS overhaul but was dropped from the list of options offered for public comment earlier this month. This is merely a way to bypass the state’s quota law, which gives 78 percent of all licenses to resident hunters.
Option 3D would split the Big Game Draw in two - one for private land, one for public - creating an even more cumbersome bureaucracy to manage antelope and continuing the unfair allocation that currently exists. This also bypasses the state quota law.
Sportsmen should ask the Game Commission to reject sub-options 3B, 3C and 3D and instead concentrate on how to make actual, measurable improvement for resident hunter opportunity.
Option 3A puts control of hunting opportunity where it belongs:
The state - not landowners - would distribute licenses.
Landowners - not the state - would determine how many hunters they can allow on their property.
Hunters would negotiate with landowners for access, not for licenses that belong to the public.
Option 3A also would eliminate the politics of allocating transferable authorizations among landowners, and would reduce the amount of department staff time taken up by determining ranch allocations and settling disputes over those allocations.
The department leadership has said that Option 3A can’t work in New Mexico, but similar systems work just fine in Arizona, Colorado and Wyoming, according to representatives of those states’ wildlife management departments.
According to the NMDGF analysis, the first problem with Option 3A is “potential concentration of hunters and overharvest of pronghorn in localized areas due to inability to negotiate access onto private lands (emphasis added).” But spokesmen for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Colorado Division of Wildlife and Wyoming Game and Fish Department said their draw hunters have minimal problems negotiating access onto private lands - even though much of the antelope hunting is done on private land. In fact, most western states encourage landowners to host hunters through incentive programs. And several New Mexico landowners have told NMWF in recent months they are eager to allow antelope hunters who pay a trespass fee onto their land.
The Department could expand private land access through its Open Gate program. But in late August the department leadership decided not to apply for a $2 million federal grant that could have been used to pay willing landowners to allow hunting and fishing for the public. This could have provided a revenue boost to landowners and rural communities and more opportunity for hunting and fishing.
The NMDGF analysis, after assuming that hunters will not be able to negotiate for access, goes on to say: “This will likely lead to future reduction in hunting opportunities due to overharvest and increasing levels of hunter dissatisfaction (emphasis added).” Again, the spokesmen for Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana hunting agencies said they see no overharvest on private or public land or widespread hunter dissatisfaction, despite the fact that some or even most antelope hunting in those states is conducted by draw hunters on private land, with the landowners’ permission.
The NMDGF analysis also cites the “potential increase in trespass violations” if Option 3A were to pass. Why would NMDGF assume that law-abiding hunters will begin trespassing? As Tyler Baskfield of the Colorado Division of Wildlife said, most antelope hunting is done on the open plains, where hunters are visible from long distances. “Trespass is really not a problem,” he said.
NMDGF argues that Option 3A would be too costly, decreasing department revenue by $180,779 annually. But that figure incorporates income from more than 400 licenses that currently are given to landowners free of charge. And it does not account for the potential increase in opportunity as more public lands currently left out of A-PLUS are opened to hunting. If there is a cost of giving New Mexico resident hunters an extra 3,500 or more antelope licenses a year, it is unknown. Whatever the figure is, it could be made up easily by minor hunting license changes and by reducing the administrative cost of A-PLUS.
The department analysis also says the fiscal impact of Option 3A on New Mexico communities “is unknown, but is likely to be negative if fewer nonresidents are purchasing goods and services in these communities and that difference is not made up by resident hunters.” That’s an unsubstantiated assumption that suggests visitors are more likely than New Mexico residents to stop off for a cup of coffee or to fill their gas tank on a hunting trip. In fact, thousands of New Mexico residents have been forced to travel elsewhere to hunt because they can’t draw a license here. Don’t let anyone tell you that a hunter coming to New Mexico for two days from out of state is more important to the economy than a resident who lives, works and pays taxes here. In fact, economic studies show that the biggest financial gain from tourism is when a small business owner decides to relocate here after visiting. But who will relocate a small business here when residents are treated so poorly?
Results of July Sportsman’s Survey
More than 230 people took our July Sportsman’s Survey, which focused on the results of the Big Game Draw. Click here to read the survey results.
For anyone hoping to change the system in New Mexico, your chance is now. Click here to send a comment in and help change the way antelope licenses are distributed by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.
More Game Commission information
Click here to read the Department of Game and Fish proposal for consolidating hunting, fishing and trapping licenses and stamps, as presented to the State Game Commission on July 14.
Click here to listen to the seven-minute exchange between Silver City hunter Larry McDaniel and Commission Chairman Jim McClintic (also on the recording are Commissioner Tom Arvas and Assistant Director Pat Block.) Click here to read the transcript.
Please note that McDaniel is correct. Department figures show that E-PLUS landowners received more than 40 percent of the elk allocation each of the last three years. For the 2009-10 license year, the department gave E-PLUS landowners 18,846 authorizations (45.8 percent) while putting 22,294 licenses (54.2 percent) in the Big Game Draw.
Also for clarification, Chairman McClintic says 150,000 people applied for 47,000 licenses. There were 150,000 applications: Several hunters apply for multiple species, resulting in multiple applications per applicant. The number of applicants is close to 91,000.
Chairman McClintic also tells McDaniel that Montana has “137 times more antelope” than New Mexico. It isn’t clear where that information is from, but it does not appear to be correct. The NM Department of Game and Fish web site does not have information about New Mexico’s antelope population. But Montana, according to recent antelope population data on the Montana web site, has about 216,000 animals. If that’s 137 times more than New Mexico, New Mexico would have fewer than 1,600 antelope. Currently NMDGF offers some 6,000 antelope hunting licenses a year.
Farm Bill expands access program for private lands
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced it will release $50 million in funding for the “Open Fields” Voluntary Public Access and Habitat Incentive Program. The program expands funding for state-run programs that provide public access to private land for hunting and fishing. New Mexico’s Open Gate is one such program.
Open Fields was authorized by Congress for the first time in the 2008 Farm Bill. New Mexico Wildlife Federation and other sportsmen’s organizations around the nation have been asking for the expanded funding and are please to see it finally come to fruition.
The program sets aside $50 million for states to create or enhance voluntary hunter-access programs on private lands. It also encourages landowners who enroll their properties to employ best-management practices for fish and wildlife. Landowners can receive a financial incentive in exchange for opening lands to the public for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation. The program is strictly voluntary.
“This program will not only help achieve conservation goals, but also increase opportunities for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation by providing greater access to privately held lands for wildlife-dependent recreation,” said Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
New Mexico’s Open Gate program is funded by $1 out of each $4 Habitat Management and Access Validation stamp. Earlier this year Open Gate coordinator Aaron Roberts said the program has enrolled about 120,000 acres, giving hunters access to those private lands. Additional funding would allow the program to expand. Montana, for example, has 9 million acres in its Block Management Program.
Southern NM sportsmen call for A-PLUS overhaul
Deming-area hunters met in late June to discuss potential changes in the controversial Antelope Private Lands Use System (A-PLUS) and said they support a major overhaul by the the State Game Commission in September. Click here to read more about the Deming meeting.
Sportsmen’s comments affect elk rules
Hunters convinced the Department of Game and Fish to drop several radical ideas for changing elk season dates and instead stick with the traditional season structure for the next four years. More than 200 individuals attended meetings or submitted comments on proposed rules for elk and other big game, department staff told the State Game Commission at its June 3 meeting in Gallup, and “probably 80 percent” of those sportsmen opposed a proposal that called for, among other things, extending the rifle season to a month. “The public spoke loudly and clearly that they don’t want the seasons to change,” said Jim Lane, chief of the Wildlife Management Division.
The elk proposal, the final version of which will be posted on the department website on June 8, calls for numerous changes. One would reverse the Commission’s recent decision to change the Unit 6A/6C boundaries, and would go back to pre-2009 lines. In most units, leftover cow tags that were offered over the counter after the draw in years past will be incorporated into the draw itself; license numbers will be rounded up to the nearest multiple of five; and a new draw option will be offered that allows elk hunters to apply for population reduction hunts for cows.
Harvest levels have been tweaked in many GMUs, and hunters are encouraged to read the proposal closely to see how their favorite units are being affected. Click here to see the slideshow on Group B proposals presented to the Game Commission. Click here to see the Group B highlights and justifications, except for elk.
Sportsmen will have 30 days to comment on the proposed changes, starting June 8. The commission is scheduled to vote on the regulations, which will be in effect for four years, on July 8 in Silver City.
Turkey, javelina, upland game rules approved
The commission unanimously approved new rules for the so-called Group A species. Click here to see the highlights of the new regulations.
Valles Caldera management transfer proposed
New Mexico’s U.S. Senate delegation has introduced a measure long sought by sportsmen - the transfer of Valles Caldera National Preserve to another land management agency. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall are calling for the National Park Service to assume the management at Valles Caldera. Their bill specifically calls for hunting and fishing to continue, along with grazing.
“It is my strong belief,” Bingaman said in a statement, “that transferring management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve to the National Park Service will be the best way to ensure the protection and enjoyment of the Preserve over the long term. I urge my colleagues to support the bill as it is considered in the Senate.”
The bill’s first stop is the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which Bingaman chairs.
Click here to read the Valles Caldera bill.
Click here to read Sen. Bingaman’s statement.
Click here to read the Journal North story on the bill (you may have to watch a short advertisement first.)
Former federal lands managers support onshore drilling reforms
The uncontrolled oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico has shown the devastating impacts of oil and gas development gone awry. It’s a reminder about the importance of careful oversight of oil and gas leasing, both off-shore and on-shore, and the need to balance energy development with other important uses of our land and water. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar recently announced a series of offshore oil and gas leasing reforms that will provide for better management, monitoring and enforcement of oil and gas operations in coastal waters.
It is equally important that he finalize onshore leasing reforms that were announced in January, ensuring similar levels of protection for landscapes and wildlife habitat. Some 60 former federal and state officials, including former New Mexico BLM Director Jim Baca wrote a letter encouraging Secretary Salazar to continue his proposed reform of the nation’s onshore oil and gas leasing policies. No one understands the issues and challenges of oil and gas development better than those who have served at federal and state land management, wildlife and energy regulatory agencies. Regulating oil and gas development so that meaningful protections are in place is not unnecessarily burdensome - it is essential for our health, safety and livelihoods.
Click here to read their letter.
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.