By Staci Matlock
The New Mexican
The State Game Commission will decide Tuesday on a federal agency’s proposal to release more Mexican gray wolves into the wild in Southern New Mexico.
A few months ago, the state Game and Fish Department denied a request by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a permit to release up to 10 capitve-raised wolves. The agency, which appealed the department’s decision to the seven-member commission, has said the release is essential to building a healthy population of the endangered species.
Wildlife advocates plan to turn out in force for Tuesday’s meeting at the Embassy Suites Albuquerque Hotel and Spa, hoping to persuade the commission appointed by Gov. Susana Martinez to approve the permit. They will rally at the hotel at 8 a.m.
“Mexican wolves are protected by the state Wildlife Conservation Act as well. Conserving and protecting our carnivores is part of the mandate of the Game Commission,” Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chairwoman of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, said in a statement.
The Mexican gray wolf was once common throughout the Southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. But by the 1970s, the wolf was considered extinct in the Southwest and was listed as federally endangered. In 1998, Mexican wolves were released for the first time in the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area in New Mexico and Arizona. Currently, about 110 Mexican gray wolves roam southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona.
“This population has exhibited a strong growth over the last four years,” Joy Nicholopoulos, deputy director of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southwest Region, told the State Game Commission in August. “Additional releases from a more genetically diverse captive population are required to improve genetic health of the wild population.”
Advocates say denying the permit may violate the federal Endangered Species Act. An attorney for the state told the Game Commission in August that Game and Fish Director Alexa Sandoval was abiding by state law when she agreed with staff and denied the permit to release the wolves into the wild. Sandoval and staff said the federal agency lacks a recovery plan, and without one the state can’t determine how wolf releases might affect elk and deer populations.
In other agenda items, the commission will hear reports on the Gold King Mine spill on the San Juan River, final elk and turkey hunting rules for the Valles Caldera National Preserve, conservation efforts for the threatened lesser prairie chicken and an update on a proposed hunter access agreement with the State Land Office.
If you go
What: State Game Commission meeting to vote on Mexican gray wolf release permit for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
When: 9 a.m. Tuesday
Where: Embassy Suites Albuquerque Hotel and Spa, 1000 Woodward Place NE, Albuquerque
More info: The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is available at the Game and Fish Department website, www.wildlife.state.nm.us. More information about the Mexican gray wolf recovery program is available at the agency’s website,www.fws.gov/southwest/es/mexicanwolf/.