Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing – protecting endangered species.

For 13 years now, the state of New Mexico has been an active and willing participant with the federal government in the effort to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf to the region.

At best, the program has been a distraction from sound land management.  At worst, it has been a financial boondoggle, a safety issue, and a travesty as a portion of hunters’ fees have gone to fund a program intended to further reduce game opportunities by nurturing populations of this predator.

Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife New Mexico (SFWNM) joined with concerned cattle growers, outfitters and parents to encourage the state Game Commission to finally withdraw from the wolf reintroduction program.

We were particularly gratified that the Commission’s vote was a unanimous 6-0.  But we wish we had not been alone among outdoor enthusiast organizations in vocalizing opposition to further state participation in this federal folly.

When a hunter or fisherman buys a license and pays for a permit from Game & Fish, his or her hard earned dollars are supposed to be going to wise habitat management and restoration.  There is, after all, great potential for more game permits to New Mexicans each year if we took a more comprehensive and game-oriented approach to spending those dollars.

Instead, we have seen in recent years hundreds of thousands of our dollars going to the state’s optional participation in this ill conceived and badly managed wolf reintroduction program.

Sure, there is still some degree of federally-mandated, state-level participation in the law enforcement portion of the program. But the Game Commission’s action is far more than just symbolic.

It is also SFWNM’s hope that this decision will send a message to the federal government that it is time to put an end to this program and to start spending taxpayer dollars on better land and habitat management instead of its fairy tale dance with wolf advocates.

These advocates have made the wolf an almost religious idol and seem to regard hunters and ranchers as interlopers into their own private cathedral. In truth, nobody cares more about true environmental conservation and sound land management practices than sportsmen, ranchers and outfitters.

Anyone not convinced that the federal government badly mismanages public lands need only look or smell the smoke from the latest mega fire.  Whether it’s Cerro Grande or the latest tragedy, it’s not really a question of who, or what started it.  It’s a question of an unnaturally heavy fuel load.

So it is too with the wolf program.  The sooner the federal government stops giving disproportionate credence to the ‘naturology’ of wolf worshipers and quits treating the rest of us like an ‘invasive species,’ the better.

At the New Mexico Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, we believe people belong, whether for hunting and fishing or ranching (or logging) or other parts of the core historical culture of our communities. It’s a tradition we intend to pass on to our grandchildren, and the state standing up for this tradition with a sound conservation ethic is a giant step in the right direction.