New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham dismissed another member of the state Game Commission, which oversees wildlife conservation and hunting and fishing regulation. The member, Jeremy Vesbach, was part of those on the commissioner who voted the year prior to denying several landowners permits that would have limited access to waterways that flow through their property.
In an interview, Vesbach said he believes his dismissal is related to the conflict over stream access, according to the Associated Press.
Lujan Grisham’s office did not respond immediately to questions sent Wednesday regarding Vesbach’s dismissal and the governor’s stance on the issue, AP reported.
After the commission’s vote in August to limit access, an attorney for the property owners said his client’s rights were violated.
Private property rights advocates said that should waterways open up, property values will decrease and there will be less interest from owners to invest to conserve tracts of land along the streams. Several fishing outfitters and guides had also said their business will be negatively impacted.
In March, the New Mexico Supreme Court is set to consider a petition from a coalition of anglers, rafters, and conservationists who said the public has the constitutional right to fish, boat or use any stream recreationally as long as they did not get there by trespassing through private land.
Vesbach noted that Democrat U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and others have been outspoken against limiting access to what they say are public waters.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who is running for re-election, has been careful to walk the line on the issue publicly. Some critics said that’s due to political campaign contributions by wealthy landowners.
“New Mexicans hate it when money is just dictating what happens,” Vesbach said. “It’s in the court, but there are more decisions to be made and she can still step in on the right side of this and I have hope that she will.”
Her administration had said in 2020 that it believed there was a way to find a balance “that both ensures access for sportsmen and women while also protecting private property rights.”
There was another shakeup on the commission in 2019 when Lujan Grisham ousted then-commission chairwoman Joanna Prukop. She had run afoul of the governor when she and other commissioners voted to reconsider a contested rule that limited stream access.
Aside from the stream access issue, Vesbach said the state Game and Fish Department is facing a staffing crisis and that its conservation officers and biologists need to be paid more to ensure they don’t leave for other jobs. He noted that the officer shortage comes at a time when needs are increasing as more people venture onto New Mexico’s public lands.
A recent report to the Game Commission showed the department was short 22 officers in the field.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
