The New Mexico Wildlife Federation strongly opposes pending legislation that would turn three state wildlife areas in the Chama area over to private hands.
A bill introduced by Rep. Miguel Garcia, an Albuquerque Democrat, would set up a process of turning the Sargent, Humphries and Rio Chama wildlife areas over to the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant. All three areas are in northern Rio Arriba County and offer prime hunting for elk, deer and other species.
“These lands have been purchased and maintained with dollars put up by hunters and anglers,” said NMWF Executive Director Jesse Deubel. “They’ve been in public hands for generations and New Mexicans across the state cherish the opportunity to use them. Placing them essentially into private hands would be a grave mistake and leave us poorer as a state.”
The Sargent WMA is just over 20,000 acres. The Rio Chama is over 13,000 acres and the Humphries is nearly 11,000 acres.
Land grants are technically political subdivisions of the state. Garcia’s bill specifies that by 2027, the land grant would receive all hunting permits for the areas for use by its community members with the requirement that the grant would offer to sell 40 percent of them to the general public. Click HERE to read the bill.
The NMWF on Thursday wrote to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as well as leaders of the New Mexico Legislature urging them to oppose the bill.
In a letter to Garcia, the federation explained that the state used federal funds to purchase the wildlife areas and that turning them over to the land grant would violate federal laws and expose the state to loss of federal funds. Click HERE to read the letter. Click HERE to read about the restrictions on disposing of lands purchased with federal wildlife funds.
The NMWF calls on New Mexico hunters and anglers to make themselves heard to oppose the legislation. Please click HERE to contact Gov. Lujan Grisham and HERE to contact Rep. Garcia to express your opposition.