NM Federal Lands Council honors Schneberger

Laura Schneberger of Winston, New Mexico, received the 2014 Bud's Contract Award from the New Mexico Federal Lands Council (NMFLC) at the Joint Stockmen's Convention, held in Albuquerque. "Laura exemplifies the meaning of this award, and we are glad for the opportunity to recognize her hard work and dedication," said Bebo Lee, NMFLC President, Alamogordo. "She has been instrumental in organizing her neighbors and ranchers across the state to deal with Federal lands grazing and Endangered Species issues — especially the Mexican Grey Wolf. She has represented the livestock industry at countless meetings on these problems and kept the rest of us informed and involved when we needed to be." Schneberger and her husband, Matt, operate a cattle ranch in the Gila National Forest near Winston. She has been a driving force behind the Gila National Forest Permittees Association, helped lead the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association's (NMCGA's) Wildlife Committee, represented the livestock industry on the Wolf Recovery Team, all while raising and homeschooling her three children – Kristie, Ivy and Miles — on the ranch. She is fifth-generation "cow-people." When she was born, her father was working on the Sand Ranch near Benson, Arizona, and she grew up on several different cow camps in southern Arizona and New Mexico. On the Wolf Recovery team, she worked against long odds to get the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to abide by their own Recovery Plan and commitments that were made when the Mexican Grey Wolf reintroduction program started, Casabonne explained. "She has helped with countless fund raising events, meetings and conference calls, written comments, testified at legislative hearings, and even helped organize litigation to try to keep her family and her neighbors in business when the agencies seem to be determined to get them off the land at any cost. She has kept after it because she believes in what's right and fighting against injustice and unfair actions by our government agencies."...more