New Mexico Wildlife magazine Conserving New Mexico's Wildlife for Future Generations
Mexican wolf recovery in New Mexico received a boost last fall when the New Mexico State Game Commission voted unanimously to once again become a lead cooperating agency in the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. “It is only appropriate for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to have a …
July, 2020
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17 July
Watch a prescribed fire
Fire as a management tool, when planned and controlled by professional wildland fire specialists, can be an extremely efficient and practical way for habitat biologists and land managers to promote positive change in a habitat and yield numerous benefits on the landscape. Before human intervention fires helped shape landscapes and …
May, 2020
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14 May
Stay bear aware: Protect yourself and bears by removing potential food sources
Human nature can lead us to believe that when we feed wild animals we are helping them. In reality we are causing them more harm than good. In the natural world, bears are very good at finding food sources on their own that help them maintain a balanced diet, without …
February, 2020
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14 February
Legislature Passes State Wildlife Corridors Act
In February 2019, the New Mexico Legislature passed Senate Bill 228, the New Mexico Wildlife Corridors Act, sponsored by Senator Mimi Stewart and Representatives Joanne Ferrary and Georgene Louis. The Act was signed into law by Governor Lujan-Grisham March 28. The Act directs the New Mexico Department of Game and …
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14 February
Department monitors Gila elk calf population
On an early June morning in the Gila National Forest, Department of Game and Fish conservation officers and biologists stop their pickup trucks along a winding dirt road. It’s a quiet, sunny morning; the only faint sound is the whirling of a distant, lone helicopter scanning the landscape below for …
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14 February
Wildlife Captures: Q&A with the Department’s big game program manager
Captures are conducted to accomplish a variety of specific goals, said Nicole Tatman, big game program manager with the Department. “Biologist are looking for some piece of information from the species or herd.” For example, a capture could help biologists investigate why a population of elk is declining in certain …
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14 February
Out of Range: Javelina are making appearances in some of the most unlikely places
Collared peccary, better known as javelina, have been a part of southern New Mexico’s landscape since before biologists such as Stokely Ligon and Vernon Bailey started discovering things about them in the early 1900s. The name javelina is derived from jabalina which, in Spanish, means “wild sow.” These medium-sized omnivorous …
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14 February
Conserving Rare Southwestern Fishes
Certain places in our collective consciousness seem to exist because they have been the subject of books. The Four Corners belong to Tony Hillerman; the Gila River to Rev. Ross Calvin; and the Pecos Wilderness to the legendary conservationist and former director of the New Mexico Department of Game and …
November, 2019
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26 November
Wildlife pathways: Long-billed curlews
Long-billed curlews (Numenius americanus) are a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in New Mexico. This large shorebird breeds in grassland habitat and New Mexico is at the southernmost extent of their breeding range. The Department of Game and Fish is collaborating with biologists from the United States Fish and Wildlife …
August, 2019
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27 August
Department Conducts Largest Elk Capture in New Mexico
A helicopter rises slowly over the snow-covered trees in the predawn light. Heading up into the mountains, the headlights from a procession of trucks, loaded with nets, netguns and other capture gear, can be seen glistening across the snowy landscape below. A hundred miles away, a small group of elk …