New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1931 Alexa Sandoval, Agency Director |
| Website | www |
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (NMDGF) is a department of the Government of New Mexico, United States, that is responsible for maintaining wildlife and fish in the state. The NMDGF undertakes protection, conservation and propagation, and regulates the use of game and fish to ensure there is an adequate supply for recreation and food.
The NMDGF was created in 1931 under an act that also created the State Game Commission. The Commission authorizes regulations and the Department implements and enforces them. The commission is staffed with political appointees, with some rules to ensure party and geographical balance. The commission hires the Director of the Department of Game and Fish, and can fire the Director. The Director runs the department, a scientific wildlife resource management organization that largely steers clear of politics other than implementing the Commission's rulings. The NMDGF applies regulations on all land in New Mexico, whether Federal, State or privately owned, other than Indian land. On many Pueblo lands and reservations, Game and Fish staff work with the people responsible for wildlife management.
Fishing and hunting license fees and taxes on fishing and hunting goods such as rod, reels and rifles provide a large part of the department's funding, although major capital programs may be funded by the legislature. Starting in 1991, Game and Fish started to implement the Sikes Act, under which anglers who use public land that is managed by the United States Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management must buy a Habitat Improvement Validation. Funds from this sources are used, as the name implies, to fund habitat improvements.
In 2011, a bill was being considered for eliminating the State Game Commission and merging the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish into the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.
At the suggestion of big-game hunter Frank C. Hibben, between 1969 and 1977 the Department of Game and Fish introduced 93 captive bred Oryx into the White Sands Missile Range, intending them to be hunted for sport. It was assumed that they would remain in the Tularosa Basin and that mountain lions would control their numbers. These assumptions were incorrect. The oryx found the environment ideal and rapidly increased in numbers, as of 2012 reaching between 3,000 and 6,000 animals, and spread into the White Sands National Monument and private lands where public hunting is not allowed. Despite several hundred being taken every year, numbers continue to expand. As of 2001, oryx had been spotted as far apart as sixty miles south of Albuquerque, and West Texas. The department has undertaken an expensive program to fence the White Sands National Monument and then remove all the oryx from the park.
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