HOUSE BILL 73

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2010

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

AN ACT

RELATING TO WILDLIFE; PROVIDING FOR TAKINGS OF COVERED SPECIES OR PREDATORS THAT THREATEN HUMAN LIFE OR PROPERTY; PROVIDING OPTIONS FOR ASSISTANCE TO REMEDY CURRENT OR POTENTIAL DAMAGE TO PROPERTY; PROVIDING LIMITATIONS; REQUIRING THE DEPARTMENT OF GAME AND FISH TO REQUEST GRANT ASSISTANCE FROM THE STATE BOARD OF FINANCE UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; INCREASING THE BIG GAME DEPREDATION DAMAGE STAMP FEE; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. Section 17-2-7.2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 224, Section 3) is repealed and a new Section 17-2-7.2 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "17-2-7.2. [NEW MATERIAL] PREDATOR TAKING--CONDITIONS--DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBILITIES.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "commission" means the state game commission;

                (2) "damage" means actual physical damage to property;  

                (3) "department" means the department of game and fish;

                (4) "immediate" means an emergency situation in which imminent harm to human life, livestock or family pets is perceived to exist;

                (5) "landowner" means a person that holds a verifiable fee interest or interest under a land sale contract in real property in New Mexico and includes an employee or agent of the landowner;

                (6) "lessee" means a person that is in possession of private, state or federal land under the terms of a lease, occupancy agreement or other documentation between the lessee and the landowner and includes an employee or agent of the lessee;

                (7) "livestock" means all domestic or domesticated animals that are used or raised on a farm or ranch and exotic animals in captivity and includes horses, asses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, bison, poultry, ostriches, emus, rheas, camelids and farmed cervidae upon any land in New Mexico. "Livestock" does not include canine or feline animals;

                (8) "predator" means bears, cougars or bobcats;

                (9) "property" means:

                     (a) private land or leased state or public land on which cultivated crops are growing;

                     (b) harvested and stored crops;

                     (c) seed crops purposefully grown for cultivation;

                     (d) fences intended to keep livestock away from cultivated crops, seed crops, irrigation and water supply systems, forage cultivated or grown to be mechanically harvested and fed to livestock or sold or fruit or nut orchards;

                     (e) irrigation and water supply systems;

                     (f) forage cultivated or grown to be mechanically harvested and fed to livestock or sold; and

                     (g) fruit or nut orchards; and

                (10) "ungulate" means elk, deer, antelope or oryx.

          B. A landowner, lessee or any other person may take or kill a predator that presents an immediate threat to human life, livestock or family pets; provided that the taking or killing is reported to the department within twenty-four hours. The department shall determine disposition of the predator carcass. Nothing in this subsection authorizes a taking in violation of the Wildlife Conservation Act.

          C. A landowner or lessee may request assistance from the department in remedying current damage or preventing reasonably anticipated damage to property caused by ungulates. The request shall be made in writing or to a toll-free telephone number provided by the department. Within twenty-four hours of receipt of a request for assistance, the department shall consult with the complainant and make arrangements to conduct an on-site investigation of the request for assistance. As soon as reasonably possible, but no later than fourteen days following the investigation, the department shall offer the following options if the department determines that damage is occurring or is reasonably expected to occur:

                (1) for option 1, pursuant to agreement, the department shall provide materials, as listed in this paragraph, to modify existing fences to minimize damage caused by the species involved. The landowner or lessee shall be responsible for installation or construction:

                     (a) for pronghorn antelope, thirty-six-inch high net wire to cover the distance necessary to minimize damage caused by this species; and

                     (b) for deer, elk or oryx, eight-foot high net wire to cover the distance necessary to minimize the damage caused by these species and ten-foot T-posts, wooden posts or pipe required to support wire at no greater than fifty-foot spacing and constructed corner and line bracing as necessary and reasonable; and

                (2) for option 2, the department and landowner or lessee shall enter into a cost-share agreement by which the landowner or lessee completes fence modification, application of fertilizer, reseeding, irrigation system improvements or similar action approved by the department that result in continued access and benefit to wildlife while increasing productivity of property or reducing property maintenance costs. The landowner's or lessee's actual costs incurred under the agreement shall be reimbursed at a rate for such period of time and under such other terms and conditions as contained in the agreement.

          D. A landowner or lessee that selects option 1 shall be responsible for all maintenance of the modified fence for a period of fifteen years and shall not submit a request for additional assistance or materials for the protected acreage during this period. Option 1 shall not be available to a landowner or lessee that, during the period of seven years preceding the claimed damage, has received state or federal funds for use in the improvement or management of the real property for enhancement of the real property as habitat for the damaging species of wildlife. Option 1 shall not be available to a lessee without the landowner entering into an agreement as provided in Paragraph (1) of Subsection C of this section.

          E. The landowner or lessee shall be required to demonstrate that materials or funding supplied by the department were used pursuant to specifications in the agreement and were not used for any other purpose. If it is determined that materials or funding were used for purposes other than their intended use, the landowner shall reimburse the department for the purchase costs of the materials or funds that were diverted.

          F. If the department determines that the cost of material purchases and cost-share reimbursements during any fiscal year will exceed the amount appropriated from the big game depredation damage fund for that fiscal year, the department shall request a grant from the state board of finance sufficient to purchase materials and pay reimbursements for agreements approved by the department for the balance of that fiscal year. If a grant request is denied, the provision of materials or reimbursement under existing agreements shall be made at the beginning of the next fiscal year subject to availability of money in the big game depredation damage fund.

          G. Neither the department nor any other state agency is obligated to purchase materials or pay reimbursements in any cumulative amount exceeding the amount available for such purchases or reimbursements from the big game depredation damage fund.

          H. A landowner or lessee may request assistance from the department in addressing current damage or preventing reasonably anticipated future damage to property caused by protected species other than ungulates. The request shall be made in writing or to a toll-free telephone number provided by the department. Within twenty-four hours of receipt of a request for assistance, the department shall consult with the complainant and make arrangements to conduct an on-site investigation of the request for assistance. As soon as reasonably possible, but no later than fourteen days following the investigation, the department shall offer technical guidance to address the complaint or other assistance deemed appropriate by the department to deter future damage other than the assistance described as option 1 or option 2 in Subsection C of this section. Such assistance shall not include construction of or provision of material for the construction of game-resistant fences.

          I. The commission shall establish rules to implement the provisions of this section."

     Section 2. Section 17-3-13.3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2001, Chapter 213, Section 1) is amended to read:

     "17-3-13.3. BIG GAME DEPREDATION DAMAGE STAMP REQUIRED--DISPOSITION OF RECEIPTS.--

          A. Each license to hunt big game shall include a big game depredation damage stamp. The department of game and fish shall, by rule, set the fee for the stamp; provided that the fee shall not exceed [five dollars ($5.00)] six dollars ($6.00) for each resident license or [ten dollars ($10.00)] twenty dollars ($20.00) for each nonresident license.

          B. No license to hunt big game shall be considered to be a proper and valid license unless it indicates, by a stamp, check off or other official mark, that the fee for the big game depredation damage stamp has been paid.

          C. Revenues received by the department of game and fish from the sale of big game depredation damage stamps shall be deposited to the credit of the big game depredation damage fund."

     Section 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of Section 2 of this act is April 1, 2011.

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