Making Tracks: A Century of Wildlife Management

History of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish: Making tracks: a century of wildlife management, by John Crenshaw, New Mexico Wildlife magazine.
Now available online, A Century of Wildlife Management originally appeared between Winter 2002-03 through Summer 2005 in the pages of New Mexico Wildlife magazine. The 9-part series was created by John Crenshaw – writer, outdoorsman, and retired chief of the Department of Game and Fish Public Information and Outreach Division.

“New Mexico’s first territorial game warden was appointed in 1903. There was no school of wildlife management, no state fish hatchery system and few, if any, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and elk.

The Department of Game and Fish has grown out of that first appointment […]. Their mission is to provide the people of New Mexico with a flexible system of fish and wildlife management that perpetuates the state’s vast wealth of wildlife species.

During the last century of challenge, the agency has restored elk […]; put Bighorn sheep back on the mountains; constructed and reconstructed six fish hatcheries […]. Along the trail the Department has assumed new responsibilities as the public’s desire to retain its wildlife heritage embraced species once believed less than desirable.

[With this 9-part series of New Mexico Wildlife, we look…] at the tracks this outfit made during its first century. Those tracks lead to the highest peak, and to the hottest desert, anywhere wildlife might need a helping hand.”

– John Crenshaw, Making tracks: a century of wildlife management, New Mexico Wildlife (Winter 2002-03, Vol 47 Num 4) .

Continue reading the full series A Century of Wildlife Management now mobile accessible on the new New Mexico Wildlife magazine website. (New Mexico Wildlife is a quarterly magazine produced by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish with a focus on department activities, native wildlife and outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing).

100 Years of Conservation in New Mexico

Elk restoration began in New Mexico in 1911, even before the Land of Enchantment became a state. Releases continued through the 1960s, and today the estimated population of elk is approximately 80,000.

To recognize the achievements of the Department of Game and Fish during the first century of statehood, the Department (with the co-operation of New Mexico State Records and Archives and the Department of Tourism) produced this video entitled “A Century of Conservation” to mark New Mexico’s Centennial 1912-2012.

Among the agency’s achievements:
• Becoming the first state to successfully capture and relocate antelope.
• Restoring Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to the state.
• Decades work to restore populations of Gila & Rio Grande cutthroat trout.
• Protecting black bears and cougar as game animals.
• Restoring otters to the Rio Grande.
• The successful recovery and delisting of desert bighorn sheep.
Celebrate 100 Years of Conservation - New Mexico Game and FishClick an image in the gallery below to see highlights by decade.
Elk restoration began 1911 and today is estimated at approximately 80,000 - New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
Decades work to restore fish populations began in the 1920s- New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
1930s, the first state to successfully capture and relocate antelope - New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
Starting in the 1940s restoring Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep to the state - New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
The history of Smokey the Bear, 1950s -New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
Gila trout began restoration of the 1960s -New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
Protecting cougar as game animals, 1970s - New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
Restoring populations of Rio Grande cutthroat trout, 1980s -New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
Protecting bear as game animals, 1990s - New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
Restoring otters to the Rio Grande, 2000s- New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
The successful recovery and delisting of desert bighorn sheep, 2010s - New Mexico Game & Fish Century of Conservation
We invite you to look around New Mexico’s Department of Game and Fish website for more about wildlife species and habitats we want to see in the next century of life here in New Mexico.