By Kevin Bixby | Executive Director, Wildlife for all and Jesse Deubel / Executive Director, New Mexico Wildlife Federation
Aldo Leopold must be rolling in his grave. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s abrupt dismissal of Jeremy Vesbach from the state Game Commission a year before his term expired demonstrates how dysfunctional this body has become.
We don’t know the official reason Vesbach was terminated, but suspect it has to do with his positions, which are not shared by the governor, on certain issues. That is what prompted her to fire another one of her appointees, Joanna Prukop, two years ago.
It is the governor’s prerogative, of course, to replace commissioners who do not agree with her, but it begs the question: Why have a Game Commission at all if members don’t have the freedom to act independently?
The Legislature created the Game Commission a century ago in response to lobbying by Leopold and the New Mexico Game Protective Association, later renamed the N.M. Wildlife Federation. The idea was to insulate the young Game Department from interference by politicians with little interest or expertise in wildlife matters. It worked as intended for a while, but doesn’t any more. Today, the commission is a conduit through which the governor injects more politics, not less, into wildlife management.
The commission’s role is to establish policy for the Department of Game and Fish. This involves more than setting arcane hunting and fishing regulations. The department is tasked with the enormous responsibility of protecting New Mexico’s extraordinary diversity of wildlife in the face of climate change and a global mass extinction crisis.
Sadly, the system we have in New Mexico is not up to the challenge, in large part due to the way the Game Commission is selected and operates. Its seven members are appointed by the governor. Although they are required by law to be confirmed by the state Senate, this rarely happens. Members are not required to have any particular expertise in wildlife conservation.
Importantly, commissioners serve at the pleasure of the governor. They can be dismissed at any time without cause, and governors past and present have not hesitated to fire members who dared to cross them.
This is not the way to make good public policy. Wildlife is a public trust. The government has a duty to manage and protect this trust for all New Mexicans. Commissioners can’t fulfill this obligation if they risk getting dismissed any time they take a position that might displease the governor.
What is the remedy? One option is to abolish the commission entirely. Minnesota and a handful of other states do not have wildlife commissions, but still manage their wildlife competently.
Short of abolition, the other option is to change the way the commission is selected and operates. The goal should be to protect commissioners from being dismissed for doing their jobs, to ensure the broad public interest in wildlife is represented on the commission, and to require commissioners have some expertise in wildlife matters. A bill that would have done this was introduced in 2019 by Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Santa Fe, and was supported by a broad coalition of groups. It passed the House 45-20, but died in the Senate. We urge the Legislature to revisit this issue.
Sticking with the status quo and its neverending revolving door of commissioners is not an option. The people and wildlife of New Mexico deserve better.
This article was originally written by The Albuquerque Journal
