NM Game & Fish back to drawing board


As you are aware from the many emails IPANM has sent over the years, our membership is very concerned about both the Sand Dune Lizard and the Lesser Prairie Chicken potential listing decisions. In 2008, IPANM was at the forefront of the litigation on the chicken, our former IPANM President Greg Nibert was instrumental in the 2012 litigation with the Counties against the USFWS. Likewise, on the Sand Dune Lizard, IPANM has worked with Congressman Pearce’s office to speak at rallies, issue comments and support litigants. Industry has won a reprieve on the Lizard with a ‘no-listing’ decision and an injunction in West Texas Federal District Court on the Chicken. In both instances, Industry has contested the science behind the USFWS actions.

Therefore, it is disappointing when, in October 2015, our very own New Mexico Department of Game and Fish released a State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) which lists both the Sand Dune Lizard and the Lesser Prairie Chicken as ‘Tier 1 species of greatest concern’. IPANM looked behind the agency’s science on both species and discovered that not only did the reporters rely on data 1991 and 2005 respectively, but they relied on sources from subscription only environmental websites! The purpose of the report was to inflate the number of species of ‘concern’ in New Mexico in order to receive more USFWS funding through a grant. But it also made some very conclusory and poor assumptions such as; the cause of climate change in New Mexico is a direct result of the Oil and Gas Industry and the Agricultural industry; That there are 1200 species who are in peril in New Mexico without additional regulations to manage human impacts on habitats; that there is no industry funding to study the Lizard and inaccessible funding to study the Chicken. The tone of the report was anti-business in general and made conclusions clearly based on the reporter’s biases. Given that the Martinez Administration has positioned itself as ‘pro-business’ this report was disappointing at best.

On November 19th, IPANM sent lengthy comments to each New Mexico Game and Fish Commissioner regarding the faulty assumptions made in the SWAP. At the Commission meeting held in Roswell, it was obvious that the members had read our comments. They also listened to the many commenters, including IPANM, Representative Candy Ezzell and the New Mexico Cattle Growers and made excellent arguments and points regarding the validity of the report. The Commission unanimously voted to order the Department back to the drawing table to submit a report based on accurate science. THIS WAS A NICE WIN FOR INDUSTRY! Please especially thank Commissioner Ryan who did an excellent job in summarizing the arguments and representing our industry on the Commission. Thank you!!