ELK PRIVATE LAND USE SYSTEM (EPLUS)
The method that the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) utilizes to compensate landowners for the essential habitat and water resources they provide to wildlife on private property is called the Elk Private Land Use System (EPLUS). In most other states the Game and Fish agency compensates landowners for essential wildlife habitat and water contributions through direct monetary reimbursement payments. NM's system is unique in that our landowners are allocated hunting permits which they can sell on the open market. EPLUS is an ingenious system which has taken the NMDGF decades to perfect and has established NM as a leader among other western states.
MCOG understands the crucial importance of private landowners to the survival of NM's wildlife.
Landowners in NM provide vast amounts of habitat and are a critical source of water in our arid landscapes. In some areas, private landowners provide the only water resource for many miles around. Landowners have spent generations, and millions of dollars, caring for New Mexico’s wildlife. They invest in habitat restoration projects, they leave water wells pumping even after the cattle are gone, they thin forested areas to promote grass growth, and they provide refuge for wildlife seeking to escape heavy pressure from public land hunters. Landowners should be compensated and incentivized for the essential conservation they provide to wildlife; and they are through EPLUS.
Landowners in NM provide vast amounts of habitat and are a critical source of water in our arid landscapes. In some areas, private landowners provide the only water resource for many miles around. Landowners have spent generations, and millions of dollars, caring for New Mexico’s wildlife. They invest in habitat restoration projects, they leave water wells pumping even after the cattle are gone, they thin forested areas to promote grass growth, and they provide refuge for wildlife seeking to escape heavy pressure from public land hunters. Landowners should be compensated and incentivized for the essential conservation they provide to wildlife; and they are through EPLUS.
Hunting & fishing is the highest grossing outdoor recreation tourism industry in NM. The outfitted segment is a billion dollar per year industry represented by the largest number of Outdoor Recreation small business owners in the state. NM hunting and fishing outfitters operate on both public and private lands, frequently partnering with landowners to facilitate hunter/angler opportunity on lands that would otherwise not be accessible to sportsmen. All outfitters are business owners who pay NM Gross Receipts Taxes on all their trips and on every landowner permit. Outfitters provide jobs in very rural communities where unemployment is often at its highest. Outfitters additionally pay 3% of their gross income to the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to operate commercially on federal lands.
Read our response to Senator Heinrich & to the ABQ Journal
Click HERE to read the original ABQ article
Click HERE to read Heinrich's original Letter
Click HERE to read the original ABQ article
Click HERE to read Heinrich's original Letter
The EPLUS system has recently come under attack from Senator Martin Heinrich, the ABQ Journal, and so-called sportsmen organizations who advocate resident preference. These are the same organization that are also pushing for unfettered public access to waters located on private property. These organizations are unabashedly anti-private property and they have zero appreciation for the enormous economic benefits provided to NM's rural communities through the outfitting industry.
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