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Sen. Martin Heinrich Calls on Game Commission to Reform License System to Give NM Residents More Elk Tags

By BEN NEARY

NMWF Conservation Director 

Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., is calling on New Mexico game managers to reform the state allocation of elk licenses following recent state audit conclusions that the current system benefits private landowners and out-of-state hunters at the expense of resident hunters.

A Legislative Finance Committee audit released last month concluded New Mexico grants a much greater percentage of available elk licenses to private landowners than neighboring states. 

The New Mexico Wildlife Federation has been pushing for decades to reform the game department’s so-called “EPLUS” system that controls distribution of elk tags. The audit findings confirmed the federation’s complaints about inequities. (Read the full audit report HERE)

Elk permit authorizations allow landowners to purchase licenses without going through the competitive public draw. Landowners frequently sell the authorizations — which commonly allow hunting on nearby public lands — for thousands of dollars.

Heinrich on Wednesday wrote to Michael Sloane, director of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and Sharon Salazar Hickey, chair of the state game commission. (Read Heinrich’s letter HERE.)

Heinrich stated that the LFC audit confirms a serious problem that he’s heard about from constituents across the state. 

“From Silver City to Crownpoint to Taos and all corners of the state over my time serving in office, I have heard from local hunters who rely on  hunting for food and tradition about a serious problem: the Department of Game and Fish’s system of  allocating elk hunting on public lands is fundamentally flawed and tilted against resident hunters when  compared to other Western states,” Heinrich wrote. 

“Each year, the so-called ‘EPLUS’ program takes thousands of opportunities to hunt elk on our public  lands away from average hunters and instead gives these public land hunting opportunities to the  wealthiest few,” Heinrich wrote.

“While this may benefit the Department of Game and Fish financially through higher license fees for non-residents, the opportunity to hunt on public lands should be allocated fairly, and those  able to pay $10,000 or more for a hunt should not get to buy their way to the front of the line to hunt on  public lands,” Heinrich wrote. “It is wrong, it is killing the hunting tradition in New Mexico, and it is high time to reform a  system that effectively allows a wealthy few to outbid an average hunter’s opportunity to hunt on public  lands.”  

Speaking at a virtual meeting of the state game commission on Thursday, Salazar Hickey said she and other commissioners have received emails and letters from Heinrich and others about “the imbalance” of how the state allocates licenses between non-residents and residents.

Salazar Hickey directed Commissioners Gail Cramer, Vice Chair Roberta Salazar-Henry and Jeremy Vesbach to meet in coming months to evaluate the EPLUS system. She said Sloane may work with them. 

Salazar-Henry said overhauling EPLUS would be a challenge. “The EPLUS system is an economic engine all by itself in this state,” she said. “And it will take a whole lot of understanding and public input and buy-in from the Legislature … and buy-in from the Governor’s Office before we start trying to unravel it. There will definitely be winners and losers.”

Cramer cautioned that the Legislature recently rejected a proposed memorial that would have called on the game commission to increase resident elk hunting opportunities. “If we open this up, residents might end up getting less,” she said.

A New Mexico law that went into effect in 2012 requires “a minimum of 84 percent of the licenses shall be issued to residents of New Mexico.” The law further specifies that 10 percent of licenses go to hunters who hire outfitters and 6 percent to nonresident hunters who don’t hire outfitters. However, the statute applies only to licenses issued through the lottery system.

The audit states that 78,000 hunters applied for 22,000 elk licenses last year. It states that 76 percent of the landowner vouchers in the state’s primary elk management zone were converted into non-resident licenses.

“The high utilization of EPLUS by nonresidents is financially beneficial to the department because they pay significantly higher license fees, but that same private system likely creates opportunity for wealthier, out-of-state hunters at the expense of New Mexico residents,” the audit states. “Accounting for both the public and private systems, in-state residents purchased 74 percent of the elk licenses issued from 2017 to 2019, nonresidents purchased 21 percent, and hunters with outfitter contracts purchased 5 percent.”

The audit states that New Mexico’s license allocation seems to go against the legislative intent that 84 percent of available licenses be offered to New Mexico residents. It also stands in contrast with neighboring states in the West, including Montana and Arizona that cap the number of non-resident tags at 10 percent.

The audit doesn’t address New Mexico’s system of issuing private land only pronghorn and deer permits, of which a high percentage also go to non-residents.

Sloane told commissioners on Thursday he was pleased that the audit didn’t identify major systemic problems with department operations. He said the commission itself may want to address policy issues the report addressed. He emphasized that existing state law specifies the state must allocate some elk licenses to landowners.

Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, commented to the commission that although state law specifies landowners must receive some permits, he believes commissioners should explore how to make improvements within the confines of the existing state law.

“It’s my belief that there are a lot of improvements that can be made at the commission level,” Deubel said. “And I’d really like to encourage the hunt structure committee to focus on providing better access to hunting opportunities to the resident hunters of New Mexico.”

In other action on Thursday, the game commission approved changes to the state’s Hunter Education Rule. Under the approved changes, children from 8 to 10 years old who haven’t completed a hunter education course will be allowed to hunt small game under the supervision of a qualified adult. Previously, children who hadn’t completed hunter ed had to be at least 10 years old to participate in the state’s “mentored hunting” program.