Latest news with #StateGameCommission
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
‘Bees to bison' wildlife agency overhaul ripples through State Wildlife Action Plan
An undated photo of a Peñasco least chipmunk which has been considered for listing as endangered, due to the small population. (Courtesy of Department of Game and Fish / Jim Stuart) The beloved fairy bee, the Sacramento Mountain Salamander and the jaguar share one common trait: a spot on New Mexico's 2025 blueprint for animal conservation. State wildlife officials released the New Mexico State Action Wildlife Plan earlier this month, identifying more than 500 species listed requiring need for conservation — more than double from the previous plan released in 2017. Next week marks the halfway point for the public comment period on the guidance documents, which ends June 9. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is required to review and revise these plans every decade and submit them to the federal government. The plan will be considered for approval by the State Game Commission later this fall. A warming climate, environmental fragmentation from development and threats like disease all pose threats for New Mexico species, even as it remains one of the most biodiverse states in the U.S., said Ginny Seamster, the assistant chief for technical guidance at the agency. 'Realistically, helping these species is an all-hands-on-deck effort,' she said. 'We need everyone who's interested to participate.' The 2025 plan doubled the number of birds and includes pollinating insects (which help plants reproduce), which had been left off the species plan in past years, 'There are some species that are only associated with a single plant, so if you remove the pollinator from the ecosystem, you're losing the plant, too,' Seamster said. 'You're multiplying the loss of biodiversity.' Public comment on the draft plan remains open until June 9, and can be submitted via email: dgf-SWAP@ 'Since this is a statewide plan, and we really want anyone who's interested in a species of greatest conservation needs to be able to see themselves in it,' Seamster said. The increase in species signals both the threats many animals in New Mexico face and the reforms underway at the wildlife agency. The State Wildlife plan dovetails with a series of changes the agency is enacting after the passage of Senate Bill 5 in the legislative session, which dramatically increased funding and expanded the scope of the department into the New Mexico Wildlife Department. As states rethink wildlife management, New Mexico offers a new model The Legislature approved a $10 million dollar three-year pilot project funding work related to species of greatest conservation need, and the department is now receiving several million dollars in interest from the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund in addition to revenue from hunting and fishing fees. The department is currently working to hire additional biologists to carry out the work, Seamster said, noting that previously, it only assigned one biologist to non-game birds. 'There are over 500 species of birds found in the state, and nearly 150 birds are species of greatest conservation need. That is clearly too many species for one person to be able to address,' she said. 'Having more staff means we can do a lot more research, a lot more habitat work.' Advocates, who fought and succeeded in reforming the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, say they're excited about the plan, which they hope will be the 'gold standard' for wildlife agencies. 'Across the country, agencies are going to look at what New Mexico's doing and see how we manage wildlife: from the top to the bottom, from the bumble bees to the bison,' said Jesse Deubel, executive director of the nonprofit New Mexico Wildlife Federation. 'It's all necessary for an intact ecosystem.' Deubel said federal efforts to freeze and roll back conservation work exacerbate climate change impacts such as increased wildfire and shrinking wetlands. But funding for New Mexico's wildfire agency comes from the state, he noted. That means: 'We're going to be able to continue doing unbelievable conservation and habitat work in New Mexico, despite the dysfunction that's happening at the federal level,' he said. An undated photo of a Peñasco least chipmunk which has been considered for listing as endangered, due to the small population. (Courtesy of Department of Game and Fish / Jim Stuart) SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico entomologists excited over ‘wildlife' designation for insects
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – During the 2025 New Mexico Legislative Session, Senate Bill 5 was passed and signed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. Known as the Game Commission Reform Bill, it has modified what constitutes 'protected wildlife' by including invertebrates and changes the name of the State Game Commission to the New Mexico Wildlife Commission. Dr. David Lightfoot, Collection Manager for the Arthropod Division at the Museum of Southwestern Biology at the University of New Mexico, said this is huge. 'The main advantage or reason that that is a good thing for the insects in New Mexico is that now there will be state funding available to us from Game and Fish – or the Department of Wildlife – to do research on insects that are rare and potentially threatened with extinction,' said Lightfoot. 'That was not present before.' Now, Lightfoot said, research into insects that are less popular in the public eye can take place. 'We probably know all the species of butterflies in New Mexico,' he said. 'Simply because they've received a lot of attention, they get posted on [nature website] iNaturalist. We've got a pretty good handle on the butterflies in New Mexico.' Registration open for warm-water fishing workshop in Roswell Even though Lightfoot's focus includes grasshoppers and crickets, there's another species he wishes got the 'butterfly-level' of attention – microarthropods like mites, springtails, and termites. 'The ones that [are] scavengers, the decomposers that live in soil, on soil. They are so essential to ecosystems and ecosystem function because they break down organic material like leaf litter; when plants die, when leaves fall to the ground, when grass dies and falls to the ground…they are absolutely essential to convert all that dead biomass back into mineral nutrients that can be taken up by plants and then becomes available to herbavores, that are in turn eaten by higher level consumers,' said Lightfoot. He said that research on those species of insect is greatly needed. 'We don't have a good accounting of what all the species are or what they even do,' Lightfoot said. 'The wildlife belongs to all of us here': A look into New Mexico's wildlife law violation checkpoints Protecting endangered species of insects is another vital reason the Wilderness Department protection is important. 'We currently have about 300 species of insects in New Mexico that we're aware of, that are rare, endemic to the state, that is, they don't occur anywhere else in the world but within New Mexico, and/or threatened by human activities,' said Lightfoot. 'Most of which are habitat loss due to agricultural development, urbanization, and pesticide use.' Lightfoot said a new project aimed at addressing endangered insect species in the state, The New Mexico Rare Arthropods Resource, is a culmination of the efforts of UNM and the ABQ BioPark Society. The site is built and maintained by New Mexico Natural Heritage, along with the arthropod division and the BioPark. Funding from the Caroll Petrie Foundation is currently going to research insects and build the website. New Mexico Game and Fish has also given a grant to develop a list of 100 species of pollinator insects in New Mexico to be added to the 2025 State Wildlife Action Plan. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
