January 15, 2015
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
A more than half-million-acre ranch that straddles the New Mexico-Colorado border and is owned by media mogul Ted Turner has asked for permission to import endangered black-footed ferrets.
The carnivores have struggled across the Great Plains, and the Vermejo Park Ranch wants to bolster their numbers as part of a recovery program spanning 12 Western states.
It will be up to the New Mexico Game Commission to clear the way for a permit for the ranch. The panel is scheduled to consider the matter Thursday.
Biologists at the ranch have been working for years to recover the species, but this marks the first time they have to jump through an extra hoop of review because of a regulatory change involving the importation and release of carnivores on private land in New Mexico.
State wildlife officials say the change is aimed at bringing more transparency to the approval of such proposals and doing so in a way that allows for public comment. Previously, only approval from the director of the New Mexico Game and Fish Department was needed.
Critics, including the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, contend the change was an attempt to stall the recovery of other more controversial endangered species, namely the Mexican gray wolf, and that the ferret was caught in the crossfire.
Mike Phillips, executive director of the Turner Endangered Species Fund, said he understands the need for transparency and is prepared to provide the state whatever information it needs about work being done at the ranch.
“With their new regulations, it’s important that we meet with the commission and make sure they’re aware of where the program is and what we’re intending to do,” Phillips said.
