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This article is from today's Albuquerque Journal:
Elk-Tag Panel Chief Gets Free Hunting Permits
By Jeff Jones
Journal Staff Writer
A state game commissioner who heads a group reviewing New Mexico's controversial system of doling out valuable elk-hunting permits to ranchers has long received the free permits himself and appealed to the state for more.
"I really didn't think it was improper," said Alfredo Montoya of Alcalde, vice chairman of the Game Commission.
The permits can be worth thousands of dollars when resold by ranchers to outfitters or hunters, often from out-of-state.
Records show Montoya appealed to the agency he helps to oversee? the state Game and Fish Department? for more permits than the six he was granted for the 2003-04 hunting season after Gov. Bill Richardson appointed him to the commission in January 2003.
But Montoya said Tuesday he has been receiving the permits and routinely appealing for more for the better part of a decade, long before his appointment to the seven-member commission.
He said he sold none of the 2003-04 permits and instead gave them to family members.
"Since I became a commissioner, I'm pretty aware I'm going to be the source of scrutiny," Montoya said. "I don't anticipate I'll appeal again or do anything to prejudice my decision."
Ellery Worthen, an Albuquerque sportsman who served on a committee that examined the system in 1999, contended that Montoya has a conflict of interest.
"Everything's working just the way it usually does," Worthen said in an interview last week. "It's a conflict of interest for you to be on the game commission and get bull (elk) tags? get hunting tags for your land."
An offer to quit
Montoya said he told Game Commission chair Guy Riordan on Tuesday that he'd be willing to step down from the subcommittee, but Riordan told him he shouldn't.
"His integrity is beyond reproach," Riordan said, defending his decision to name Montoya chair of the subcommittee.
The Landowner Sign-Up System, commonly known as LOSS, was established in the late 1980s to help manage elk on the millions of acres of private land in New Mexico's elk country.
For the 2002-2003 hunting season, Game and Fish handed out nearly 18,000 free hunting authorizations to ranchers. The ranchers could then sell those to hunters or outfitters? and a coveted bull-elk tag in a trophy area can go for big bucks.
Some tags in the past have reportedly sold for the better part of $10,000 each.
Although not part of its intended purpose, ranchers who provide habitat for elk are using LOSS as a way to recoup some of the costs associated with that. For example, a rancher who loses some of his hay crop to hungry elk herds can help offset the loss by selling his tags. But ranchers and sportsmen alike are critical of how the current system works:
Some ranchers say they aren't getting enough licenses to offset their damages. That has led a handful of them to grab their own rifles and kill numerous elk in their fields, a move that's legal under current New Mexico law.
In addition, more and more landowners are applying for LOSS tags, so ranchers who are used to receiving a certain number of tags are finding themselves with fewer.
On the flip side, the current system provides at least one either-sex elk license to most landowners who apply? even those who provide little elk habitat and have spreads of only a few acres. That leaves other ranchers and some public-land hunters asking why someone should get a guaranteed elk tag simply for owning a tiny chunk of land.
'Keys to the kingdom'
"We've handed (ranchers) the keys to the kingdom, with no strings attached," said Larry Caudill, a New Mexico Wildlife Federation member critical of LOSS.
A committee made up of sportsmen, ranchers and others examined LOSS in 1999. Although some of its recommendations, such as the system in which most landowners get at least one tag, were implemented, others? such as using a standard, mathematically-based worksheet when evaluating LOSS ranches? are not in use.
Montoya's 640-acre Rancho La Mesa is just south of El Vado Reservoir in northern New Mexico.
Documents obtained from Game and Fish through a public-records request by the Journal indicate Montoya was originally to receive two bull elk tags, three cow elk tags and one bowhunting elk license for the 2003-2004 season. He appealed and got the extra bull tag.
"... You have made considerable improvements to the property," the department said in a June 30 letter granting the extra tag. However, the letter later added, "There is still very little elk use on your property."
Montoya this week said "good-sized herds of elk and deer" remain on his land from January through April.
His subcommittee is to meet today to get the review process moving. As in the last review, sportsmen, ranchers and others will have a voice in the process, Montoya said.
Worthen said he believes the group will wind up making decisions benefiting landowners.
"The ranchers get what they want, and the hunters can take the leavings," he said.
Montoya said he will be unbiased.
"I don't intend to favor anyone," he said.
Elk-Tag Panel Chief Gets Free Hunting Permits
By Jeff Jones
Journal Staff Writer
A state game commissioner who heads a group reviewing New Mexico's controversial system of doling out valuable elk-hunting permits to ranchers has long received the free permits himself and appealed to the state for more.
"I really didn't think it was improper," said Alfredo Montoya of Alcalde, vice chairman of the Game Commission.
The permits can be worth thousands of dollars when resold by ranchers to outfitters or hunters, often from out-of-state.
Records show Montoya appealed to the agency he helps to oversee? the state Game and Fish Department? for more permits than the six he was granted for the 2003-04 hunting season after Gov. Bill Richardson appointed him to the commission in January 2003.
But Montoya said Tuesday he has been receiving the permits and routinely appealing for more for the better part of a decade, long before his appointment to the seven-member commission.
He said he sold none of the 2003-04 permits and instead gave them to family members.
"Since I became a commissioner, I'm pretty aware I'm going to be the source of scrutiny," Montoya said. "I don't anticipate I'll appeal again or do anything to prejudice my decision."
Ellery Worthen, an Albuquerque sportsman who served on a committee that examined the system in 1999, contended that Montoya has a conflict of interest.
"Everything's working just the way it usually does," Worthen said in an interview last week. "It's a conflict of interest for you to be on the game commission and get bull (elk) tags? get hunting tags for your land."
An offer to quit
Montoya said he told Game Commission chair Guy Riordan on Tuesday that he'd be willing to step down from the subcommittee, but Riordan told him he shouldn't.
"His integrity is beyond reproach," Riordan said, defending his decision to name Montoya chair of the subcommittee.
The Landowner Sign-Up System, commonly known as LOSS, was established in the late 1980s to help manage elk on the millions of acres of private land in New Mexico's elk country.
For the 2002-2003 hunting season, Game and Fish handed out nearly 18,000 free hunting authorizations to ranchers. The ranchers could then sell those to hunters or outfitters? and a coveted bull-elk tag in a trophy area can go for big bucks.
Some tags in the past have reportedly sold for the better part of $10,000 each.
Although not part of its intended purpose, ranchers who provide habitat for elk are using LOSS as a way to recoup some of the costs associated with that. For example, a rancher who loses some of his hay crop to hungry elk herds can help offset the loss by selling his tags. But ranchers and sportsmen alike are critical of how the current system works:
Some ranchers say they aren't getting enough licenses to offset their damages. That has led a handful of them to grab their own rifles and kill numerous elk in their fields, a move that's legal under current New Mexico law.
In addition, more and more landowners are applying for LOSS tags, so ranchers who are used to receiving a certain number of tags are finding themselves with fewer.
On the flip side, the current system provides at least one either-sex elk license to most landowners who apply? even those who provide little elk habitat and have spreads of only a few acres. That leaves other ranchers and some public-land hunters asking why someone should get a guaranteed elk tag simply for owning a tiny chunk of land.
'Keys to the kingdom'
"We've handed (ranchers) the keys to the kingdom, with no strings attached," said Larry Caudill, a New Mexico Wildlife Federation member critical of LOSS.
A committee made up of sportsmen, ranchers and others examined LOSS in 1999. Although some of its recommendations, such as the system in which most landowners get at least one tag, were implemented, others? such as using a standard, mathematically-based worksheet when evaluating LOSS ranches? are not in use.
Montoya's 640-acre Rancho La Mesa is just south of El Vado Reservoir in northern New Mexico.
Documents obtained from Game and Fish through a public-records request by the Journal indicate Montoya was originally to receive two bull elk tags, three cow elk tags and one bowhunting elk license for the 2003-2004 season. He appealed and got the extra bull tag.
"... You have made considerable improvements to the property," the department said in a June 30 letter granting the extra tag. However, the letter later added, "There is still very little elk use on your property."
Montoya this week said "good-sized herds of elk and deer" remain on his land from January through April.
His subcommittee is to meet today to get the review process moving. As in the last review, sportsmen, ranchers and others will have a voice in the process, Montoya said.
Worthen said he believes the group will wind up making decisions benefiting landowners.
"The ranchers get what they want, and the hunters can take the leavings," he said.
Montoya said he will be unbiased.
"I don't intend to favor anyone," he said.
