By BEN NEARY
NMWF Conservation Director
The New Mexico State Game Commission voted Friday to increase the cost of the habitat stamp that’s required for hunters and anglers on federal lands from $5 to $10 starting April 1.
The cost of the habitat stamp hadn’t increased since the stamp program was created in 1986. The habitat stamp program has raised roughly $1 million a year, which in turn has brought up to roughly $3 million a year in additional federal matching funds. Doubling the cost of the stamp may generate up to roughly another $4 million a year for conservation programs.
Together with increasing the cost of the stamp, the commission voted to change the structure of the citizen advisory committees that have weighed habitat projects.
Under the previous system, the state had five regional, five-member citizen advisory committees. On Friday, the commission approved creation of a single, nine-member committee that will consider projects statewide.
Stewart Lilley, game department biologist, told commissioners that moving to a single advisory committee that considers statewide projects will allow the state to tackle larger issues that have a larger benefit for wildlife.
The commission approved the following members for the statewide advisory committee: Christina Mann, Eddy County; James Cain, Dona Ana County; Colleen Payne, Dona Ana County; Ray Trejo, Luna County; Laura Naranjo, Sandoval County; Art Villmer, Santa Fe County; John Pearce, Bernalillo County; Dave Heft, Otero County; and Nick Streit, Taos County. Trejo is Southern New Mexico outreach coordinator for the NMWF and Naranjo is on the NMWF board of directors.
Lilley said that 50 percent of the program funds over a five-year period will benefit fish projects. He said a large portion of funds come from anglers. “So this is a way to try to ensure that those people that are paying into this program are being represented in some fish habitat management projects that will be beneficial,” he said.
After increasing from $5 to $10 this April, the habitat stamp fee will be adjusted in coming years based on the Consumer Price Index. The commission may round the increases to the nearest whole number and may defer changing the fee for up to five years based on economic conditions.
Commissioner Gail Cramer cast the sole vote against the changes. While she said she has high regard for the habitat stamp program, she said she disagreed with increasing the fee given current economic conditions.
“I think it’s a bad time to be increasing fees, particularly on families, large families with lots of children,” Cramer said. “I have a neighbor with ten children. The father was saying, ‘man, you guys are killing us.’”
Commissioner Roberta Salazar-Henry said she wasn’t concerned about increasing the fee from $5 to $10. “We have not changed the fee since 1986,” she said, noting that the cost of a loaf of bread has increased nearly four-fold since then.
Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico WIldlife Federation, expressed appreciation for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish staffers who held public meetings about the fee increase. He said the increase is going to provide benefits to New Mexico residents and future generations.
In other action on Friday, the commission elected Chair Sharon Salazar Hickey to continue to serve as chair. It elected Jeremy Vesbach as vice chair, taking over from Salazar-Henry.
The commission approved a four-year agreement with the New Mexico State Land Office to continue to lease hunting and fishing access. The lease, which affords licensed hunters and fishermen access to roughly 8.8 million acres of state lands, will continue at its present rate of $1 million a year.
Under public comment, NMWF Board Chairman John Crenshaw told commissioners that the federation opposes pending legislation that would transfer three state wildlife management areas to the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant. The Rio Chama WMA, Sargent WMA and Humphries WMA are all in the Chama area.
Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, has introduced legislation to turn over the areas to the land grant. The bill will come up in the session of the New Mexico Legislature that starts next week.
Crenshaw emphasized to the commission that the NMWF has huge respect for land grants and has supported the pending effort to turn over the former Burns Lake to the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant. However, he said that all three of the wildlife management areas were purchased using federal money under terms that prohibit transferring the properties. Doing so would endanger federal funding, he said.
“They were purchased on behalf of all the residents of the state,” Crenshaw said, adding that the NMWF would also oppose any changes in use of the areas including allowing them to be used for livestock grazing. The areas currently provide top-quality public hunting.
The commission approved a change to the rule that governs importation of wildlife to give game department officials more flexibility on bringing wolf pups into the state for rearing under the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan.