By BEN NEARY
NMWF Conservation Director
CLOUDCROFT — A proposal to limit trapping on public lands near the state’s biggest cities and near established trailheads continues to advance before the New Mexico State Game Commission despite opposition from ranchers and trappers.
The commission at its Wednesday meeting in Cloudcroft also endorsed a separate proposal that would ban trapping mountain lions for sport.
The first proposal would ban trapping for furbearers in the following areas:
_ on the Sandia Ranger District near Albuquerque;
_ on the eastern portion of the Organ Mountain Desert Peaks National Monument near Las Cruces;
_ within one-half mile of the roads to the Santa Fe ski basin and the Taos ski valley.
The proposal also would ban traps within one-half mile of designated trailheads, campgrounds, rest areas, picnic areas, boat-launching areas and dwellings without the owner’s permission.
Stewart Liley, head biologist for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, told commissioners the agency plans to present the proposal to the commission at its Nov. 21 meeting in Roswell. He said the commission is on schedule to take a final vote on the rule in January.
The commission consideration of increased restrictions on trapping comes just months after the New Mexico Legislature gave serious consideration to banning trapping outright.
Many proponents of passing a trapping ban in this year’s spring legislative session said they were concerned about pets caught in illegal, unregistered traps near trails and dwellings. Several groups that supported the proposed ban have pledged to continue to push to outlaw trapping.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, testified Wednesday that the federation supports continued legal trapping in the state. He said the proposed rule changes are an effort by the commission to keep trapping viable in the state.
State Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, urged the commission to make decisions on trapping based on science, not emotion.
“My question for all of you all is, is trapping negatively impacting the wildlife population?” Ezzell asked the commissioners.
“I don’t know why you all are bending to the social issues without looking at the scientific data and the biological facts,” said Ezzell, herself a rancher.
Travis Chilson, a Lea County trapper and member of the New Mexico Trappers Association, spoke against the proposal, saying he and other legal trappers do everything they can to make sure that animals treated humanely.
“We care deeply about what we do,” Chilson said. “We care deeply about the animals that we pursue.”
Shawn Carrell, with the New Mexico Conservation Officers Association, told the commission that the association supports the trapping industry and trappers themselves.
“We don’t believe this is as big a problem as this is being made out to be,” Carrell said.
On the other side, Kevin Bixby, executive director of the Southwest Environmental Center in Las Cruces, said that although he’s a hunter and angler, he’s opposed to trapping.
Trapping is different than hunting and fishing, Bixby said. “It has no place as a recreation or sporting pursuit in modern society,” he said.
Bixby said he believes that the practice of trapping runs contrary to the principles spelled out in the North American Model of Wildlife Management, which includes a general prohibition on the commercial hunting or sale of wildlife.The majority of New Mexicans oppose trapping, he said.
Mary Katherine Ray, with the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, told the commission that trapping as practiced in New Mexico isn’t truly a form of wildlife management.
The term “management” implies that there’s a goal, a plan how to achieve it and measurement of progress to see if the goal’s achieved, Ray said. In the case of trapping in New Mexico, she said none of that is true.
Jessica Johnson, with Animal Protection of New Mexico, said she disagreed with Liley’s position that trapping offers the best way to manage furbearers.
While Johnson said she appreciated the changes the commission is considering, she said, “the vast majority of public land will remain open to trapping. There will continue to be high profile conflicts.”
The commission also voted to advance a proposal that would ban the sport-trapping of cougars. Trapping of them would still be allowed to protect bighorn sheep, livestock and for other game management purposes.
The commission is on track to take final action on the cougar proposal at its November meeting in Roswell. Sport trappers killed 13 lions in the state last year, a figure that doesn’t include lions killed for killing livestock or for game management purposes.
Several ranchers urged the commission not to ban the trapping of cougars on private lands. They said they need to be able to kill cats to protect livestock.
“We see what the predators have done to the rural areas of our state,” Ezzell said.
Tim Jennings, a Roswell rancher who previously served in the New Mexico State Senate as a Democrat, said there’s been a steep decline in the area deer population.
“You put me out of the sheep business because of mountain lions and coyotes,” Jennings told the commission.
Chilson also spoke against the proposal to end sport trapping of lions, saying he believes it’s wrong for the commission to set game management regulations in response to social pressures.
“I think it’s a very dangerous road to go down,” Chilson said. “If we’re going to manage wildlife, we need to use the best science available.”
Commissioner Gail Cramer suggested modifying the game department’s proposal to continue to allow recreational trapping of cougars on private land.
Cramer said she struggles with the idea of taking tools away from the ranchers. “What does it matter,” she said, “if he shoots it with a rifle or catches it in a trap?”
Commissioner Jimmy Bates said he agreed with Cramer. He noted the state doesn’t compensate ranchers for livestock losses to lions and doesn’t have an active predator-management program.
Commissioner Jeremy Vesbach said some states have banned trapping altogether. “This is a social issue and I think it’s important to be cognizant of social issues,” he said.
Commissioner David Soules said ranchers will still have the ability to kill lions that are preying on their livestock.
Cramer, Bates and Commissioner Tirzio Lopez voted in favor of not including private lands in the ban on sport trapping for lions.
Vesbach, Soules and Commissioner Roberta Salazar-Henry voted to include private lands in the trapping ban.
Commission Chair Joanna Prukop cast the tie-breaking vote against exempting private lands from the ban.
While Prukop said she wanted ranchers to know that they commission had heard their concerns, she said, “My overall concern is for the future of trapping as a legitimate activity in our state.”