Wildlife

By Mary Katherine Ray
Chapter Wildlife chair

Aurelia Valente recently wrote her own op-ed for The Santa Fe New Mexican defending protection of Mexican gray wolves after the executive director of New Mexico Cattle Growers said wolves “haven’t proven to be able to live in the wild.” I talked to this 13-year-old Santa Fe wildlife enthusiast about what motivated her to speak out:

Mary Katherine Ray: How did you become interested in New Mexico’s wolves?

By Mary Katherine Ray
Chapter Wildlife chair

Rep. Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces, who sits on the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, heard the testimony on HB579, the bill to ban trapping on public land, and afterward introduced two memorials that would have provided needed oversight of New Mexico Game and Fish Department.

By Walter Szymanski, Rio Grande Chapter member

At the invitation of New Mexico’s Southwestern County Commission Alliance (SWCCA) and the Council of Border Conservation Districts, a fast-talking lawyer and Republican state representative from Utah named Ken Ivory made a presentation to about 60 attendees at a meeting in Deming on Dec. 3, 2012, urging them to follow his state’s lead and push for legislation in New Mexico to “take back” national public lands.

By Mary Katherine Ray, Chapter Wildlife Chair

Coyotes, our native wild song dogs, are the most persecuted animal in New Mexico. They can be shot on sight, trapped or poisoned all year long in unlimited numbers. And now we know that shooters compete with each other in organized events to see who can kill the most in a weekend to win a prize.

At a public meeting regarding the Mexican Wolf Blue Range Reintroduction Project
Replacement Release Outline for Arizona 2013 held in Alpine, Arizona, Mr. Chris Bagnoli of the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) announced that public comments on the release proposal would be accepted through October 27, 2012. In response, the White Mountain Conservation League, has submitted a letter signed by 19 organizations, including the Grand Canyon and Rio Grande chapters of the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Western Wildlife Conservancy and many others.

New Mexico hit the conservation daily double on Sept. 27, when we gained two national wildlife refuges—America’s 559th and 560th. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, along with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Rep. Martin Heinrich and other dignitaries and community supporters were on hand for two ceremonies celebrating land acquisitions for the new refuges.

By Dave Simon

The Rio Grande is one of the world’s great rivers. Over 1,800 miles in length, the Rio Grande is the fifth-longest river in North America. More than 500 miles of the Rio Grande form the heart of New Mexico—the state’s primary drainage feature and most valuable natural and cultural resource.

On June 21, the state Game Commission rubber-stamped Game and Fish’s
recommendation to drastically increase allowed bear and cougar kills in New Mexico.

By Mary Katherine Ray, Wildlife Chair

What exactly is meant when the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish uses the words “wildlife management”? When it comes to carnivores, it means one thing: killing. Game and Fish is proposing to increase the number of bears being killed despite only two years having passed since the quotas were raised dramatically already.