Dec. 17–LAS CRUCES — A federal agency is again delaying a decision on whether to allow bird hunting along sections of New Mexico’s Rio Grande after the government shutdown and an outpouring of public comment complicated the time line.
The decision, originally scheduled for September, will be released in late winter or early spring, said Sheryl Franklin, operations and maintenance division chief at the International Boundary and Water Commission, which oversees water rights between the U.S. and Mexico.
The outpouring of public comment, then the federal government shutdown in October, led to the months-long delay, Franklin said.
“We did receive a number of comments and we are evaluating the best proposal to present to our Commissioner,” she said in an email. “… Since we were unable to come to a decision prior to the fall hunting season, we have some extra time to evaluate this before the next hunting season.”
The agency had planned to allow bird hunting along select portions of the river, including from Shalem Colony Trail to Leasburg Dam State Park. IBWC officials first announced the proposal in July at the request of sportsmen.
But the proposal, especially along that section just north of Las Cruces, drew ire.
Residents in the area say their homes are already hit with stray bullets from people hunting illegally along the Rio Grande’s banks, alleging that opening the area to legal hunting would only exacerbate the problem.
“The biggest oversight are the homes, the livestock, the business,” resident Tim Severns has said of the proposal. “It completely overlooks the people that are out here.”
Severns doesn’t allow his two children to play in the front yard, which is just across the road from the river’s banks. He has at least three bullet holes in his home, including one that pierced the wall, dented a bar on his garage door and landed on his car.
Sportsman Jim Bates, with the Southwest Consolidated Sportsmen coalition, said excluding responsible hunters from using the land won’t stop lawbreakers. A prohibition on bird hunting would only harm responsible sportsmen, he said.
“People still will do dumb things,” he said. “You really can’t legislate that.”
It’s unfortunate that the decision has been delayed, Bates said, and quail and dove season, now underway, will likely end by the time the decision is released. But he said he has heard it’s business as usual along the river with no increase in efforts to stop hunters in the area, he said.
Bates said he didn’t have a problem with whatever IBWC decides, “as long as the decision is made on real safety issues and concerns of residents and not emotionalism.”
Lindsey Anderson can be reached at 575-541-5462.