Seven biologists are on the endangered list after a
budget cut at New Mexico’s state wildlife agency. In April,
Republican Gov. Gary Johnson vetoed $620,000 in state and federal
matching funds for the state’s management of all nongame
wildlife.
The funds were earmarked for staff
positions in environmental education and endangered species
protection. “Our intent is for no one to lose their job, but that’s
going to take some creative financing,” says New Mexico Department
of Game and Fish spokesman Luke Shelby.
Game and
Fish, however, cannot use money from the sale of hunting licenses
for the Conservation Services positions.
Many
environmental and sportsmen’s groups opposed the governor’s cuts.
The agency also found an ally in Democratic state Sen. DeDe
Feldman, who unsuccessfully tried to restore the cuts during a
special session of the state Legislature in early
May.
“In a state richly endowed with one of the
most diverse arrays of wildlife species in the country, the scope
of Conservation Services’ legally mandated responsibilities is
mind-boggling,” Feldman wrote in an Albuquerque Journal opinion
piece. “Gov. Gary Johnson’s head-in-the-sand approach to budget
cutting makes me wonder if he and his advisers have flown the
coop.”
*Michelle
Nijhuis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Biologists get the ax.
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