mrcowboy
Well-known member
Our state is rich with cultural traditions, and high among them are hunting, fishing and spending time outdoors. As any resident or visitor will tell you, time spent here is often shared with an abundance of wildlife. New Mexico ranks in the top five states for biodiversity nationwide, and it’s our responsibility to ensure wildlife is well managed and protected for future generations.
Since our statehood in 1912, the financial responsibility for wildlife stewardship has fallen primarily on hunters and anglers. Facing severe depletion of game and fish species, the state created the Department of Game and Fish and generated revenue through the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. This strategy spawned a national trend raising conservation dollars in the same manner.
When hunters and anglers claim to be the original conservationists, they are referring to this history. Today, license fees still provide most of the department’s revenue, helping leverage millions of federal matching dollars, much of which comes from excise taxes on sporting equipment. With each license sold, the hunting and angling community sustains wildlife management in New Mexico and does so with pride.
Today, this funding system has become inadequate to meet modern wildlife management challenges. Populations of many species are in decline, while habitat is threatened by high-severity wildfire, prolonged drought, and expanding human development. The status quo has proven insufficient, threatening our hunting and fishing heritage.
A coalition of anglers, hunters and wildlife advocates is working with Rep. Matthew McQueen to change this. We’ll do so by passing the most significant piece of wildlife legislation since the department’s founding.
Key to this effort is updating hunting and fishing license fees for the first time in nearly 20 years, bringing new revenue to the table for wildlife management. New funding will result in more habitat restored, improved access to the outdoors, conserved wetlands for migratory waterfowl, protected big game migration corridors, and increased research and data collection. With a modest increase in license fees to reflect increased management costs, we can invest in what we cherish, the very things we hope to pass down to future generations.
Adjusting license fees is long overdue. As organizations representing thousands of anglers and hunters, we worked hard to ensure increases are minimal for New Mexicans. In the proposed legislation, the average increase is just $15 a year for residents, and discounts remain for veterans, seniors, youth and people with disabilities. But license fee increases won’t solve the department’s funding crisis alone, and license buyers shouldn’t be solely responsible for funding wildlife management. Fee increases should accompany investments from new funding sources, such as a proposal by House Appropriations and Finance Chair Rep. Nathan Small to dedicate $10.5 million to wildlife conservation over three years through the state’s Government Results and Opportunity Fund.
New Mexicans at large care about healthy landscapes and preserving our state’s unique biodiversity. That’s why this legislation also includes commonsense reforms leading to a strong, science-based Game Commission and providing the department with new tools and authority to manage New Mexico’s wildlife, a necessary step in the 21st century.
New Mexicans from all walks of life enjoy wildlife and are right to expect a greater investment in our wildlife heritage. At the same time, hunters and anglers cannot bear the cost of such management on our own. The answer is not to cut a bigger piece of pie for one at the expense of another, but to make a bigger pie. This session we must do that by investing in our shared values and building the 21st-century wildlife management system New Mexico deserves.
Dan Roper is the New Mexico Program Lead for Trout Unlimited, and Matthew Monjaras is the founder of Impact Outdoors. They are joined by Ducks Unlimited, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in support of this effort.
Since our statehood in 1912, the financial responsibility for wildlife stewardship has fallen primarily on hunters and anglers. Facing severe depletion of game and fish species, the state created the Department of Game and Fish and generated revenue through the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. This strategy spawned a national trend raising conservation dollars in the same manner.
When hunters and anglers claim to be the original conservationists, they are referring to this history. Today, license fees still provide most of the department’s revenue, helping leverage millions of federal matching dollars, much of which comes from excise taxes on sporting equipment. With each license sold, the hunting and angling community sustains wildlife management in New Mexico and does so with pride.
Today, this funding system has become inadequate to meet modern wildlife management challenges. Populations of many species are in decline, while habitat is threatened by high-severity wildfire, prolonged drought, and expanding human development. The status quo has proven insufficient, threatening our hunting and fishing heritage.
A coalition of anglers, hunters and wildlife advocates is working with Rep. Matthew McQueen to change this. We’ll do so by passing the most significant piece of wildlife legislation since the department’s founding.
Key to this effort is updating hunting and fishing license fees for the first time in nearly 20 years, bringing new revenue to the table for wildlife management. New funding will result in more habitat restored, improved access to the outdoors, conserved wetlands for migratory waterfowl, protected big game migration corridors, and increased research and data collection. With a modest increase in license fees to reflect increased management costs, we can invest in what we cherish, the very things we hope to pass down to future generations.
Adjusting license fees is long overdue. As organizations representing thousands of anglers and hunters, we worked hard to ensure increases are minimal for New Mexicans. In the proposed legislation, the average increase is just $15 a year for residents, and discounts remain for veterans, seniors, youth and people with disabilities. But license fee increases won’t solve the department’s funding crisis alone, and license buyers shouldn’t be solely responsible for funding wildlife management. Fee increases should accompany investments from new funding sources, such as a proposal by House Appropriations and Finance Chair Rep. Nathan Small to dedicate $10.5 million to wildlife conservation over three years through the state’s Government Results and Opportunity Fund.
New Mexicans at large care about healthy landscapes and preserving our state’s unique biodiversity. That’s why this legislation also includes commonsense reforms leading to a strong, science-based Game Commission and providing the department with new tools and authority to manage New Mexico’s wildlife, a necessary step in the 21st century.
New Mexicans from all walks of life enjoy wildlife and are right to expect a greater investment in our wildlife heritage. At the same time, hunters and anglers cannot bear the cost of such management on our own. The answer is not to cut a bigger piece of pie for one at the expense of another, but to make a bigger pie. This session we must do that by investing in our shared values and building the 21st-century wildlife management system New Mexico deserves.
Dan Roper is the New Mexico Program Lead for Trout Unlimited, and Matthew Monjaras is the founder of Impact Outdoors. They are joined by Ducks Unlimited, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership in support of this effort.
