April 2024

​The New Mexico State Game Commission hosted a meeting in Silver City this past Friday to review Department of Game and Fish programs and divisions. This type of learning forum is not uncommon. They take place every few years and especially when there are new Commissioners appointed. However, what was uncommon about Friday’s meeting was an extended public comment segment which allowed for organizations to make 10-minute presentations and allowed individuals to speak for 5 minutes each. Typically, public comment is restricted to 2 minutes regardless of whether the commentor is representing an organization. There were a substantial number of folks signed up to give public comments which led to an extremely long (5 hour) public comment period and resulted in Friday’s Game Commission meeting lasting until well past 7pm (the meeting began at 8:30am). Although the Department presentations to the Commission covered everything from the Dept’s. mission, structure, budget, funding, Mexican Wolf program, fisheries program, and the Elk Private Land Use System (EPLUS); public comment centered around either EPLUS or the Mexican Wolf program.
 
NMCOG is happy to report that despite the NM Wildlife Federation’s email attempts to rally their anti-EPLUS troops, comments in favor of the EPLUS program outnumbered the haters 3:1.  Thanks to all the members of our EPLUS coalition for taking the time to make such eloquent comments in support of EPLUS. We’ve worked hard over the past 2 years to solidify our coalition and produce information that can be used by everyone wishing to learn about the many benefits of this great program. The result of 2 years of hard work conducted by our analyst (thanks Ed – you are a rockstar!) debuted on Friday and our coalition website finally went live. We encourage anyone who is interested in learning more about EPLUS, and why it’s great for NM, to check out home - EPLUS New Mexico (eplusnm.org)…. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t remind you that NMCOG is still in the process of conducting our comprehensive economic impact study, which will provide additional information on the economic benefits of EPLUS! That study will be completed by December 2024.
 
This edition of our Game Commission Recap is going to be a bit out of the ordinary. Given that all agenda items centered around individual Dept. divisions and programs, we felt it best for you to hear the presentations straight from the horse’s mouth. Below is a bullet point outline of the presentations made during Friday’s meeting along with their start times in the webcast. Fast forward to any of the presentations that interest you, but we strongly encourage you to listen to Chief Liley’s presentation on the Elk Private Land Use System…especially if you are someone who is opposed to the program! You might just change your mind. NM State Game Commission Meeting - April 19, 2024 (youtube.com)
 
Agency Mission, Statutory Framework (start time 1:20.45)
​Fisheries Management Division (start time 1:33.46)
Wildlife Management Division (start time 1:36.50)
Information & Education Division (start time 1:42.40)
Field Operations Division - Enforcement (start time 1:48.45)
Administrative Services Division (start time 1:57.17)
Information Systems Division (start time 1:58.39)
Human Resources Manager (start time 2:02.44)
Budget and Funding (start time 2:43.51) Overview of Mexican Wolf Program (start time 3:09.11) Overview of Fisheries Management (start time 5:07.01) Overview of the Elk Private Land Use System (start time 5:34.34) Public Comment Segment (start time 6:39.27)

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Next Commission Meeting – May 16, 2024 (Hobbs, NM)
COMMISSIONER CONTACT INFORMATION
(You're encouraged to contact the Commissioners any time to voice your opinion)


Tirzio Lopez - Vice Chairman
District 3: San Juan, McKinley, Cibola, Valencia, Sandoval, Los Alamos
and Rio Arriba counties
[email protected]


Gregg Fulfer
District 1: Curry, De Baca, Roosevelt, Chaves, Lincoln, Otero, Eddy and Lea counties
[email protected]


Dr. Sabrina Pack
District 2: Catron, Socorro, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra and Dona Ana counties
[email protected]


Sharon Salazar Hickey
District 4: Santa Fe, Taos, Colfax, Union, Mora, Harding, Quay, San Miguel, Guadalupe and Torrance counties
[email protected]


Edward Garcia
District 5: Bernalillo county 
[email protected]


Fernando Clemente Jr.
Appointed at-large 
[email protected]


Richard Stump
Appointed at-large 
[email protected]