Western Watersheds Project has been advocating for the Mexican gray wolf in New Mexico since 2007, fighting to make sure the lobo is protected and has a place in its natural habitat. In 2019, we expanded our efforts to protect species like the lobo, bighorn sheep, and native fish from the impacts of livestock grazing on federally managed lands in New Mexico with the addition of the Arizona and New Mexico Director.  

 

New Mexico is home to the first designated wilderness area and its vast forested lands are in the heart of the Mexican wolf Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area. The state has a long history of exploitation by the livestock industry and we are working to bring reality based land management to the fore so that wolves and other wildlife have a strong chance at survival in the Greater Gila Bioregion and beyond. 

New Mexico is not dissimilar from other western states that have been propping up a dying industry with funding. We are looking at ways to protest this mis-use of taxpayer money, especially in site-specific areas where drought- and fire-related “hardship” payments are being used as an incentive for keeping cattle on publicly managed lands.

Instead of paying ranchers to find ways to put cows back on dry public lands, we’re teaming up with the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign to pursue voluntary relinquishment opportunities, areas so marginal for grazing that many operations consist of paper cows only. We believe the voluntary permit buy-out could be a win-win solution, especially on national monuments.

 

Because the lands of New Mexico are just too fragile and ecologically important to sustain grazing, and because many of the imperiled species in the Greater Gila Bioregion are directly and indirectly harmed by livestock grazing, we have high hopes that a little bit of pressure will bring a lot of change.

 

Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions

Cyndi Tuell
Arizona and New Mexico Director
Western Watersheds Project
738 N 5th Ave, Suite 206
Tucson, Arizona 85705
(520)272-2454
Email