The Valles Caldera National Preserve has been working with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish on a proposal for the Valles Caldera to begin charging access fees to your public lands of $5,000 to $7,000 for some elk hunts.
This would set a precedent of exorbitantly-priced preferential access to hunting on publicly-owned lands, to help meet budget shortfalls. The Valles Caldera National Preserve Board of Trustees has the ability, given to them by Congress, to charge excessive access fees to your public land. But the New Mexico Game Commission and our congressional representatives can help put a stop to this misguided plan.
Current plans are to take 25% to 40% of the first mature bull hunts for archery, muzzleloader and rifle at the Valles Caldera National Preserve and charge vastly higher prices for those hunts. Current plans are to charge $7,500 per hunter.
Please take a stand with us for equal access to your public land. Fax NM Game & Fish Director, Bruce Thompson, and the New Mexico Congressional Delegation asking them to take a stand against this misguided plan.
Talking Points:
· Continued support for wildlife and wild places depends on a strong base of regular citizens who can access and enjoy our land and wildlife. Setting exorbitant access fees that are beyond the reach of the majority of citizens will lead to an erosion of support, and ultimately work against the good of our public lands in the future. As NM Wildilfe Federation founder Aldo Leopold stated, when he was leader of the NM Wildlife Federation in 1919 and backing public acquisition of wetlands for wildlife conservation: "Cannot the public see that a pond, which furnishes inspiration, rest, and health to a score of tired workers has a higher social value that a patch of corn [formed by draining the wetlands] which furnishes feed for an equal number of hogs or steers? Of course not, if only millionaires can enjoy the pond!"
· Sportsmen proudly support over 90% of wildlife conservation in New Mexico through hunting and fishing licenses, taxes on sporting equipment, and other fees. We ask that these fees be kept equitable, fair and within the means of the majority of our citizens. It is not right to set fees that block the vast majority of the public from accessing public land and public wildlife.
All citizens-not just those of us who hunt-should be opposed to this plan. This sort of thinking goes against the principle of our public lands, and sets a precedent that could be applied to charging unreachable access fees for fishing, hiking, sightseeing, or other opportunities on our most prized public lands.
Congress should consider a new model for management of the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The current management system for the Valles Caldera National Preserve was mandated by Congress as an experiment. The Caldera was given a Board of Trustees and a goal to raise their own funding through access fees and other methods, as if the Valles Caldera National Preserve were a private ranch, instead of a part of our national system of public lands. This goal set by Congress failed to take into account the strong and growing economic input that our public lands and public wildlife make to New Mexico's local and state economies. For instance, just the direct economic contribution of outdoor recreation based on our publicly owned lands and publicly owned wildlife bring $2 billion each year to the New Mexico economy-and that's just the recreational input. In addition, recent studies have proven that the strongest economies in the Western United States are in those places where high-quality, protected public lands are most accessible to the general population. A new management model that increases public access to the Valles Caldera, will help our economy.
"Our aim is to preserve our natural resources for the public as a whole, for the average man and the average woman who make up the body of the American people."
-Theodore Roosevelt
