NMDGF Conservation News
The latest conservation news and press releases from New Mexico Game and Fish. Department-wide news can be found under Home → NMDGF News.
Project Highlight: Surveying for a Bird in Decline
Following is a selected project highlight from the Share with Wildlife mission to assist all New Mexico wildlife in need, no matter what species. Project Highlight: Surveying for a Bird in Decline Pinyon jays in ponderosa pine tree. (Christina Selby) Is the Gila National Forest (NF) an area in New Mexico where the Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) is thriving? What sort of environmental conditions are associated with observations of Pinyon Jays? These are some of the questions that Dr. Kristine Johnson and others working in partnership with Lynn and John Wickersham of Animas Biological Studies are trying to answer with the support of the Share with Wildlife program. Answers will come from the team’s extensive surveys of large, 25km2 survey blocks throughout the Gila NF in southwestern New Mexico. These blocks approximate the size of a Pinyon Jay breeding season home range, or area used by [...]
**CANCELED** Game Commission to meet Jan. 12
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Public contact, Information Center: 888-248-6866 Media contact, Darren Vaughan: 505-476-8027 darren.vaughan@dgf.nm.gov FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, JAN. 6, 2023: **CANCELED** Game Commission to meet Jan. 12 The New Mexico State Game Commission will hold a meeting at 9 a.m., Thursday, Jan. 12, at State Records and Archives in Santa Fe. The full agenda, location address, attendee information and additional information are available on the Department of Game and Fish website. If you are interested in participating and providing comments, but cannot attend the meeting in person, you are encouraged to pre-register to attend the meeting on the Zoom Webinar platform. More information, including how to join the meeting by phone, will be available on the Department's website. In addition, there will be a live webcast on the Department’s website. Webcast participants can listen to the meeting using a desktop computer or mobile devices such as smartphones and [...]
Teaching Students How Wildlife Researchers Study Wildlife
Following is a selected project highlight from the Share with Wildlife mission to assist all New Mexico wildlife in need, no matter what species. Teaching Students How Wildlife Researchers Study Wildlife Asombro educator goes over habitat associations of different animals. (Ginny Seamster) How do scientists gather data on different animals? What are some species found in the region of New Mexico we live in? What about animals that live in nearby mountainous areas? These are some of the questions around which educators with the Asombro Institute for Science Education have developed a new environmental education module (i.e., multiple lessons) and that Asombro will be working with second grade students in southern New Mexico to answer. The module includes three lessons. Two focus on surveying the students’ schoolyards to determine which species of wildlife are present based on direct detections and animal sign and determining what would [...]
How to Manage Forests in the Land of an Endemic Salamander?
How to Manage Forests in the Land of an Endemic Salamander? Male and Female Salamanders. (Ginny Seamster) What temperature and precipitation levels allow a narrowly distributed salamander to move on the ground surface vs. stay below ground? Are there conditions or times of year during which forest treatments, including thinning or prescribed burns, can more safely be conducted to minimize impacts to this salamander? What are the impacts of wildfire on the Sacramento Mountain salamander? These are some of the questions that Dr. Nancy Karraker and students in her lab at the University of Rhode Island, including a recent graduate student, Ryan Healey, and a future student, Marissa Ardovino, are trying to answer with collaborator Dr. Rachel Loeman, a fire ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Answers will come from the team’s extensive mark-recapture and occupancy surveys at sites in the Sacramento and White mountains in [...]