Recently, a report was published by the Legislative Finance Council regarding a funding method utilized by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to compensate landowners for conservation practices essential to maintaining critical habitat provided to wildlife on their private property. The report prompted Sen. Martin Heinrich to write a critical letter outlining his disapproval, as well as an article by the Albuquerque Journal. Designed with input from numerous stakeholders, the Elk Private Land Use System has taken the NMDGF decades to perfect and has been credited as a model system among other western hunting states.

EPLUS provides landowners with elk hunting authorizations through...