Feds may release more wolves in New Mexico, despite state opposition

Are we still a state?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to continue its wolf reintroduction program despite state opposition has provoked praise from advocates and condemnation from critics. The service said Thursday it may release Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico in further efforts to recover the species, despite the state Game and Fish Department having refused the federal government permits to do so. Last month, the Game Commission upheld the department’s decision to deny the permits. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to continue its wolf reintroduction program despite state opposition has provoked praise from advocates and condemnation from critics. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to continue its wolf reintroduction program despite state opposition has provoked praise from advocates and condemnation from critics. “Our preference is always to work collaboratively with states and we ask New Mexico to re-engage with us in these efforts,” the federal agency said in a statement. Game and Fish criticized the agency for seeking to expand its efforts without providing an updated recovery plan for the Mexican wolf. Both friends and foes of the Mexican wolf recovery program have been urging Fish and Wildlife to update its current plan, which dates to 1982 and is widely considered outdated. The service has failed to do so despite several efforts to convene stakeholders over the years. In its permitting process, the state Game and Fish Department said it is required to evaluate whether wolf releases conflict with other wildlife conservation efforts, adding in a statement that “the director was unable to make this determination without the aid of a current Mexican wolf recovery plan.” “We want to know what is going to happen when wolves reach a certain number,” said Bill Montoya, vice chairman of the Game Commission and a former director of Game and Fish. “How big a range are they going to be included in? Where are they going to be released? That is something in a management scheme you need to know.”...more

And thus ends the facade that the feds "collaborate" with the state.  Notice the ability of a state to manage it's wildlife is subject to the preference of a single federal agency.   A State's ability to protect the health and welfare of it's citizens can be waived by one person.  The director of the Fish & Wildlife Service has more authority than the Governor of our state.  Laura Schneberger has it right:

“It’s not at all a surprise,” said Laura Schneberger, a Sierra County rancher and president of the Gila Livestock Growers Association. “They haven’t paid any attention to impacts the wolves have had. The state wanted to slow them down. They are going to continue to run roughshod over the state.”


All we have is a letter from the USFWS wherein they claim this authority and that genetic diversity is sufficient rationale to invoke it.   

What remains to be seen is whether Governor Martinez agrees with the above, or will she take responsible action to protect our state.  Is the protection of our citizens and the role of the state her top priority, or will she cave to the almighty federal dollar?  Will our Governor assert her authority to govern or not?