HOUSE MEMORIAL 117

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Andy Nunez

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE GOVERNOR TO DENOUNCE THE MEXICAN WOLF RECOVERY PROGRAM AND TO FORMALLY ENGAGE AND DEMAND THAT THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TURN MANAGEMENT OF MEXICAN WOLVES OVER TO THE STATE.

     WHEREAS, the livestock industry in New Mexico contributed one billion seven hundred fifty million dollars ($1,750,000,000) in 2012 to the state's economy; and

     WHEREAS, over fourteen thousand New Mexicans are directly employed by the livestock industry in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the United States fish and wildlife service has implemented a Mexican wolf recovery program in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the United States fish and wildlife service recently enacted a new program regarding Mexican wolves that greatly expands the area in New Mexico where wolves will be released and new wolf packs established; and

     WHEREAS, Mexican wolf depredation and failed federal interdiction policies have caused enormous economic harm to the livestock industry and local communities in southwestern New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, wolf introduction efforts elsewhere in the United States have led to similar effects on the livestock industry and caused drastic decreases in wild deer and elk populations while wolf populations have increased unmanaged and unchecked; and

     WHEREAS, in promulgating the new federal program regarding Mexican wolves, the federal government failed to adequately analyze the potential future negative environmental and economic impacts of the revised federal Mexican wolf introduction program; and

     WHEREAS, the federal government is continuing an illegal program of releasing wolves in New Mexico against the wishes of the governor, the state game commission and the New Mexico department of game and fish; and

     WHEREAS, the Endangered Species Act does not allow listing at the subspecies level (Canis lupus baileyi), and gray wolves (Canis lupus) have been proposed to be delisted; and

     WHEREAS, the federal government continues to prove it is not capable of fiscally or biologically managing Mexican wolves in New Mexico;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the governor be requested to formally engage the United States department of the interior and request immediate withdrawal of the Mexican wolf recovery program and relinquish management of Mexican wolves to the New Mexico department of game and fish; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of the United States department of the interior and the governor.

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