CONSERVATION PRIORITIES
DSC New Mexico is committed to serving all of New Mexico’s hunters with unbiased factual information around wildlife management issues in the state. We strive to provide an accurate information hub for people to become educated and learn more on how to engage on the issues that are effecting our states wildlife management and the rights of hunters and anglers. Below is a list of the issues that DSC NM is monitoring closely and has taken official positions on.
Read about the BLM plans for solar energy on 22 million acres of your public lands. The links provide some additional information and links to provide public comment. The comment period closes on April 18, 2024. Following the comment period, BLM will develop a final PEIS and Record of Decision amending BLM land use plans. [1] See Executive Summary (pages ES 12–16, 21) of the Draft PEIS for maps displaying the amount of land available for solar application under each alternative. Jan 29, 2024 BLM analysis aims to optimize solar energy development throughout the West.....
The Elk Private Lands Use System (EPLUS) is a program administered by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF). It was established to create a cooperative agreement between landowners, public hunters and NMDGF out of recognition of the important role that private lands play in elk management and to compensate private landowners for the impacts that are caused by elk on private lands. As part of this cooperative arrangement, the program aims to increase public hunter access to private lands as well. To achieve these goals, NMDGF annually authorizes an allocation of elk permits to eligible and qualifying landowners (based on a formula of land acreage) which can be bartered, sold or traded to hunters for private land access and surrounding areas. Here is how the EPLUS Program works.....
New Mexico, like most western states, issues big game license through a public draw process subject to a quota system which determines the number of resident and non-resident licenses issued. Per state law, New Mexico’s quota distributes hunting licenses as follows: a minimum of 84% of all licenses for each hunt and species are reserved for New Mexico residents, 10% of licenses are allocated to residents or non-residents who apply while under contract with an outfitter, and the remaining 6% of licenses are allocated for non-residents who apply and are not under contract with an outfitter.....
The Mexican Grey Wolf is native to New Mexico but was extirpated from the state in the early 1970’s. Under legal pressure from environmental groups a reintroduction program was created in 1991 which resulted in the reintroduction of nine wolves into the Gila National Forest. These released populations are designated as a ‘non-essential experimental population’ (a designation associated with the 10(j) agreement between USFWS and NMDGF) and allowed to disperse and range throughout these national forests. The 'experimental' designation allows researchers to capture and relocate animals involved in livestock predation or travel beyond......
DSC New Mexico recognizes that the role of wildlife management decisions is most appropriately administered and determined by the professional staff at NMDGF and the NMDGF Commission. However, recently more and more wildlife management decisions are being taken up by elected officials at the state legislature.
For over 110 years, our New Mexico Department of Game and Fish has been successfully stewarding our state’s wildlife and wild places, so that all New Mexicans can enjoy our outdoors. And we aim to see that continue for another 110 years. But this lineage of success faces new challenges today that are different from those encountered by our predecessors. The challenges we face now are more dynamic in nature, more social in nature, born from booming urban demographics disconnected from wildlife and conservation.