As used in the Wildlife Conservation Act:

1. A. "commission" means the state wildlife commission;
2. B. "director" means the director of the department of wildlife;
3. C. "ecosystem" means a system of living organisms and their environment;

4. D. "endangered species" means any species of fish or wildlife whose prospects of survival or recruitment within the state are in jeopardy due to any of the following factors:

   1. (1) the present or threatened destruction, modification or curtailment of its habitat;
   2. (2) overutilization for scientific, commercial or sporting purposes;
   3. (3) the effect of disease or predation;
   4. (4) other natural or man-made factors affecting its prospects of survival or recruitment within the state; or
   5. (5) any combination of the foregoing factors. The term may also include any species of fish or wildlife appearing on the United States list of endangered native and foreign fish and wildlife as set forth in Section 4 of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 as endangered species; provided that the commission adopts those lists in whole or in part. The term does not include any species covered by the provisions of 16 U.S.C. 1331 through 1340 (1971) or any species of the class insecta determined by the director to constitute a pest whose protection under the Wildlife Conservation Act would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to humans;
5. E. "investigation" means a process pursuant to Subsections B through L of Section 17-2-40 NMSA 1978 undertaken whenever the director believes that a species may be threatened or endangered and that consists of a formal review of existing data and studies and may include additional field research to determine whether a species is threatened or endangered;
6. F. "land or aquatic habitat interests" means interests in real property or water rights consisting of fee simple title, easements in perpetuity, time certain easements, long-term leases and short-term leases;
7. G. "management" means the collection and application of biological information for the purposes of establishing and maintaining a congruous relationship between individuals within species and populations of wildlife and the carrying capacity of their habitat. The term includes the entire range of activities that constitutes a full scientific resource program, including research, census, law enforcement, propagation, acquisition or maintenance of land or aquatic habitat interests appropriate for recovery of the species; improvement and maintenance, education and related activities; and protection and regulated taking;
8. H. "recovery plan" means a designated program or methodology reasonably expected to lead to restoration and maintenance of a species and its habitat;
9. I. "peer review panel" means an advisory panel of scientists, each of whom possesses expertise relevant to the proposed investigation and at least one of whom is a wildlife biologist, convened to review the scientific methodology for collection and analysis of data by a researcher based on commonly accepted scientific peer review;
10. J. "species" means any species or subspecies;
11. K. "substantial public interest" means a nonfrivolous claim indicated by a broad-based expression of public concern;
12. L. "take" or "taking" means to harass, hunt, capture or kill any wildlife or attempt to do so;
13. M. "threatened species" means any species that is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range in New Mexico; the term may also include any species of fish or wildlife appearing on the United States list of endangered native and foreign fish and wildlife as set forth in Section 4 of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 as threatened species; provided that the commission adopts the list in whole or in part; and
14. N. "wildlife" means a nondomestic mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish or invertebrate species, including a living animal, or any part, egg, spawn, offspring or the dead body or parts thereof.

History: 1953 Comp., § 53-2-51, enacted by Laws 1974, ch. 83, § 2; 1995, ch. 145, § 2; 2025, ch. 9, § 7.

ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — Section 4 of the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 is compiled as 16 U.S.C. § 1533.

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2026, changed the definition of "commission" from the "state game commission" to the "state wildlife commission", changed the definition of "director" from the "director of the department of game and fish" to the "director of the department of wildlife", and revised the definition of "wildlife" as used in the Wildlife Conservation Act; in Subsection A, after "state" deleted "game" and added "wildlife"; in Subsection B, after "department of" deleted "game and fish" and added "wildlife"; and in Subsection N, after "fish" deleted "mollusk or crustacean" and added "or invertebrate species, including a living animal" and after "egg" added "spawn".

The 1995 amendment, in Subsection D, deleted "or are likely within the foreseeable future to become so" following "jeopardy" in the introductory language, deleted "or subspecies" following "species" and "or threatened" following "endangered" in the next to last sentence and added the language beginning "and shall not include" at the end of the last sentence; added Subsections E and F; redesignated former Subsection E as Subsection G and substituted "acquisition or maintenance of land or aquatic habitat interests appropriate for recovery of the species" for "acquisition" therein; added Subsections H through K and M; redesignated former Subsections F and G as Subsections L and N; inserted "or 'taking'" in Subsection L; and made minor stylistic changes.

Authority over wild horses. — The definition of wildlife in this section does not encompass the wild horses on the White Sands Missile Range. Therefore, because the authority of the State Game Commission [state wildlife commission] is limited by statute, and a state agency has no powers not delegated to it by statute, the Game Commission lacks jurisdiction over these wild horses. 1994 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 94-06.