N.M. Adds Wildlife Protections

Albuquerque Journal North :

Monday, September 01, 2008

By Susan Montoya Bryan
Associated Press

"With the oil and gas boom spreading across the West, New Mexico officials are taking an unprecedented step to get federal and state land management agencies to think about wildlife before opening up public land to energy development.

New Mexico is the first state to adopt a set of recommendations developed by Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development, a national coalition of groups dedicated to preserving public lands for hunting and fishing.

The recommendations, adopted by state game commissioners at their last meeting, seek to balance conservation with responsible energy development.

Game Commissioner Oscar Simpson of Albuquerque described the recommendations as "a commonsense approach."

"Several of the things identified in there go right along with the state Game and Fish Department's mandate, what they should be doing all along, fighting for wildlife and making sure there's habitat for wildlife," he said.

"You don't have habitat, you ain't going to have wildlife," he added.

The sportsmen say drilling on federal public land has increased by 260 percent in just under a decade while declines in big game and other species have been documented from Wyoming to southeastern New Mexico.

In northern New Mexico, drilling has been proposed for the Galisteo Basin south of Santa Fe and in the mountains east of Chama, but permit applications are temporarily on hold."...

..."Simpson said he hopes that, by adopting the sportsmen's recommendations, Game and Fish will be able to push harder for protection of wildlife. He said there have been past instances of the department "ducking its head in the sand" when it came to wildlife and energy issues." More>>>