Dear New Mexico Wild Member:
We write to inform you of New Mexico Wild’s involvement in joining with a diverse group of conservation and community leaders to support removal of feral cattle from the Gila Wilderness through lethal and non-lethal means.
Since the mid-1970’s, the Gila National Forest (GNF) has struggled to address the devastating impacts of feral cattle on wildlife habitat, water quality, sensitive riparian areas, and wilderness character. These cattle have become feral in nature, breeding and increasing their numbers in the decades since being abandoned. These are not domesticated cattle and do not have an owner. For decades, the GNF has attempted to resolve the feral cattle problem through live removal and gathering efforts. Since 1996, 756 cattle have been removed. Despite these efforts, a large population of feral cattle has remained in the wilderness. This limited success has resulted from the remote location and rugged topography of the Gila Wilderness and the wild nature of the cattle.
In addition to being unsuccessful, live gathering operations result in high rates of death, injury, and stress to the cattle. In September 2021, the GNF hired a contractor for live removal of feral cattle. Over the following 15 months, the contractor removed 31 feral cattle alive from the Gila Wilderness. Unfortunately, an additional 39 feral cattle died or were injured and euthanized during gathering operations. This 44% success rate demonstrates the difficulty of removing live cattle from the remote, rugged wilderness and the stress and injury endured by feral cattle subject to live gathering operations. Contract gathering of feral cattle is also time-consuming and expensive. The 2021 contract lasted 15 months and cost taxpayers $301,840. By comparison, the two-day aerial lethal removal operations conducted in 2022 resulted in the lethal removal of 65 feral cows and cost the taxpayers only $38,996.
Over the past year, the GNF has conducted extensive stakeholder outreach in an attempt to find solutions to the problem. At a meeting in September 2022, all parties agreed that the feral cattle do not belong in the area and should be removed. In November 2022, the GNF reached out to the New Mexico Cattlegrowers’ Association and the New Mexico Livestock Board, requesting that they provide financial and/or technical assistance to help resolve the feral cattle issue. To this day no response has been received.
At this point, lethal removal of the feral cattle is absolutely necessary as a last resort, as 40 years of effort to address this issue through non-lethal means has failed. This action is consistent with operations by USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to lethally remove injurious wildlife and feral animals with aircraft that occur every year in New Mexico at the request of New Mexico ranchers. During any aerial removal operations, APHIS will survey waterways and trails at the end of each day to inspect for carcasses in the surrounding areas. If a carcass is identified within or immediately adjacent to any waterway or trail, Forest Service staff will move the carcass away from that location to a great enough distance that the carcass is no longer a concern. New Mexicans overwhelmingly support this action to protect the Gila Wilderness, as demonstrated by the public comments submitted during the scoping period for the project: 93% of the 5,973 comments submitted during the recent scoping period that the GNF conducted for this project were supportive of lethal removal of the cattle. The Grant County Commission also passed a resolution in support of the project.
On February 21, 2023, the Cattlegrowers’ Association and others asked a federal court to stop the GNF from conducting the project. The federal court promptly conducted a hearing and rejected the request. The court concluded that the project was lawful and that stopping the project “would be adverse to the public interest” because it would prevent the GNF from fulfilling its obligation to “manag[e] the Gila Wilderness for the benefit of the citizens of the United States.” The federal court noted that the plaintiffs had waited until two days before operations were scheduled to begin and had failed to demonstrate that they would suffer irreparable harm if the project were to proceed.
As acknowledged by the federal court, the GNF has already dedicated significant resources to the project. The GNF has an agreement with the APHIS, which will conduct the aerial operations. APHIS has selected its most qualified aerial gunner, who lives in Montana, to ensure the success of the project. The agreement provides funding for 29 hours of flight time, including ferry time to and from personnel duty stations. The limited funding has already been used to bring personnel from Montana. If operations are not allowed to proceed, it would cost the U.S. Forest Service at least $15,000 to simply send them home. The current agreement does not provide enough funding to reposition the crew member or the pilot and helicopter back to the Gila this month. Moreover, it is critical that aerial lethal removal activities occur in February, when no hunting seasons are in effect, recreational usage is low, conflicts with wildlife nesting and breeding seasons are minimal, and the lack of vegetative cover provides adequate visibility. If the GNF is unable to complete aerial operations in February of 2023, the next window for it to conduct operations would be February of 2024. Delaying project implementation would only allow the population of feral cattle to grow over the next year, thereby making resolution of the issue more difficult in the future.
In conclusion, we strongly advocated for the implementation of the GNF’s planned operations and urged opponents not to interfere with the expertise of federal agencies, which had to make a difficult decision about the best way to safeguard our treasured public lands. No one has disputed that the cattle need to be removed and are doing significant damage to the Gila Wilderness. The GNF has an affirmative legal responsibility under an array of federal statutes to address this persistent problem, including the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Wilderness Act, and National Forest Management Act. The project has widespread support in New Mexico and serves the public interest.
We appreciate the support in our efforts. None of this could have been done without your activities and involvement in the issues that matter to keep New Mexico Wild.
Executive Director,
Mark Allison
