New Mexico’s public lands are a treasure trove of opportunity for our state. They are cherished by all and an asset to our state’s future. And public lands will be even more important as New Mexico’s post-pandemic economic recovery will be aided in large part by our burgeoning outdoor recreation industry and strong tourism industry. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham brings the vision and leadership to make that effort a great success.

But story after story, year after year, has revealed a persistent, lurking problem on our public lands. Maya Anthony was 17 years old when a family outing on national forest land near her home in San Cristobal was cut short after her dog, Joker, was caught in a leg-hold trap. Panicked and in pain, the dog struggled and lashed out while his family tried to rescue him – leading to a deep puncture wound on Maya’s arm, and a laceration on her mother Nina’s leg. Unable to free the dog, Maya drove down the canyon to fetch her father at home for help, and he returned with towels to hold over the dog’s head while they released Joker’s paw. After about a half hour of suffering in the trap, Joker’s foot was free and thankfully healed after a few days – but Maya temporarily lost full motion of her arm and required a round of antibiotics to stave off infection.

After this incident, Maya swore to advocate to stop trapping on public lands, and her advocacy led to the first introduction of legislation to address this problem in 2013. Almost a decade later, Senate Bill 32 has passed the New Mexico Legislature and now awaits the governor’s signature to become law.

As co-sponsors of Senate Bill 32, the Wildlife Conservation & Public Safety Act a.k.a. Roxy’s Law, we come to this subject matter with unique perspectives but have arrived at the same conclusion: It is time to end private recreational and profit-driven use of traps, snares and poisons on public lands in New Mexico. We are ready to put stories like Maya’s – and Roxy’s, the dog who died in a neck snare on public land in 2018 – in the past.

In this very moment, New Mexico has an opportunity to recommit to progressive, science-based, forward-thinking wildlife conservation. We can stop sabotaging our endangered species conservation efforts with accidental trapping injuries and deaths of Mexican gray wolves. As climate change continues to alter our land and water, we can renew our focus on responsible, thoughtful, humane management of wildlife species. We can join our neighbors of Colorado and Arizona as one of multiple states in the West who have removed hobby and commercial trapping from our public lands.

New Mexico is home to landscapes that provide unparalleled opportunities for hiking, backpacking, hunting, biking, rock climbing and more. We are home to millions of acres of richly biodiverse habitats, with unique native wildlife and endangered species populations that draw visitors hoping to watch birds, hear wolves and turn nature’s beauty into art. New Mexico’s outdoor recreation economy is growing faster than the overall state economy, and that is something we can leverage to benefit our urban and rural communities alike and support our home-grown businesses.

Thanks to our public lands, the future looks bright for New Mexico. Traps, snares and poisons have led to too many tragic endings. New Mexicans stand ready to tell a new story on our public lands – one of leadership in conservation, community, and green economic opportunities. By signing Senate Bill 32 into law, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s pen starts that new story for us all.

Read this Guest Column in the Albuquerque Journal »

The post Guest Column: Ending traps on public land starts NM’s outdoor future appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.

New Mexico wants the traveling public to think of the state as a destination for outdoor recreation. For those of us who hike, bike, fish, hunt, and golf, that seems pretty obvious. The tourism industry and economic developers are on board.

However, some really old thinking threatens these new livelihoods.

This month the state Economic Development Department announced grants to business incubators with the best programs to help budding outdoor businesses. EDD wants to develop at least one incubator that specializes in recreation startups.

The department made its announcement at an Outdoor Recreation Economic Conference in Silver City, where attendees gathered to talk about how to promote outdoor recreation, “eco and wildlife tourism,” and public-private partnerships. One of the conference speakers was Axie Navas, recently hired to lead the newly created Office of Outdoor Recreation.

And last week New Mexico joined 12 other states in signing the Outdoor Recreation Industry Confluence Accords, which upholds “the four pillars of conservation and stewardship, education and workforce training, economic development, and public health and wellness.”

One of the tenets is “conservation and stewardship of land, air, water, and wildlife and for enhanced public access to them.”

This is not just an aesthetic exercise. In all of these developments there is a firm emphasis on jobs and economic development. In other words, it’s OK to make money on outdoor recreation.

The industry (yes, it is an industry) brings in about $10 billion a year, which is about 10 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, and supports 100,000 jobs, according to my former newspaper co-worker Karl Moffatt, who blogs at outdoorsnm.com.

The same day the state was announcing its recreation incubator initiative, a runner found a trap about 15 feet from Old Santa Fe Trail on the outskirts of Santa Fe with a dead fox in it. Although trappers are required to check their devices daily, the fox had been dead at least a week, and it was trapped illegally out of season.

Next we hear that a judge let off the trapper whose neck snare strangled a dog this year at a state recreation area north of Española. Although the evidence was overwhelming and included selfies of the trapper and his kills, the state Game and Fish Department muffed its investigation, and the trapper’s lawyer took full advantage.

This doesn’t happen in Colorado or Arizona, where bans have been in place since the 1990s.

Every dog owner in the state knows Roxy. The name of the dog killed in a neck snare was attached to a bill called Roxy’s Law that would have outlawed traps, snares and poisons on public land. Despite two hearings in which dozens of people described injuries to their dogs or themselves, the bill died.

Then there’s the state Game Commission. We might have expected a change of attitude by appointees of the new administration, but no. The commission is proposing minimal changes: Closing just one half of one percent of the state’s public lands to most traps, increasing setbacks from trailheads but not from trails or roads, allowing year-round trapping of raccoons and nutria, and increasing check times for underwater traps.

According to surveys, nearly 70 percent of New Mexicans oppose any kind of trapping. Are any of our public servants listening? Apparently commissioners don’t care that you, your child or your dog can step into a trap, but the first time this happens to a tourist, and that tourist posts to social media, you can kiss our outdoor recreation industry goodbye.

Trappers argue that they would lose their livelihood and “way of life.” What if legislators and commissioners showed some faith in this new industry? Its success could mean these people could use their knowledge of the outdoors for a kinder, better livelihood.

When tourists or their dogs step into traps, you can kiss new outdoor recreation industry goodbye

The post When tourists or their dogs step into traps, you can kiss new outdoor recreation industry goodbye appeared first on TrapFree New Mexico.