Arizona and New Mexico recently announced that the Mexican wolf population has reached at least 319
animals—meeting the federal recovery benchmark established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
upheld by the courts. By the government's own standard, the biological recovery goal has been achieved. That
is an environmental success worth acknowledging.

But recovery on paper does not tell the whole story.

For rural communities in Catron County and across western New Mexico, the costs of this recovery are real and
growing. Wolves roam through small communities. Pets are killed. Residents increasingly need to keep children
inside and to carry protection outdoors.

For livestock producers, the impacts are measured in mutilated horse, cow and calf kills, injured animals,
sleepless nights, and rising costs for riders, fencing, and deterrence programs that still cannot guarantee
protection. Ranching families absorb these losses until they can't, but the consequences extend far beyond their
ranch gates. Cattle production supports the tax base that funds rural schools, hospitals, and public services.

When working ranches fail, land fragments, open space disappears, and rural communities decline.

Hunters and wildlife managers are also raising concerns about localized declines in elk numbers in parts of the
Gila —a development that could affect wildlife management goals and rural outdoor economies.

Conservation succeeds only when it maintains public trust. That trust erodes when rural communities carry the
burden of policies designed and celebrated far away. It erodes in the face of demands for further wolf
population and territorial expansion. It erodes when activists oppose the use of lawful management practices to
address public safety and the killing and mutilation of pets and livestock.

Mexican wolf recovery should be recognized. But lasting conservation must balance predators with people.

Count wolves — but count rural New Mexico, too.

Signed 3-18-2026:

Audrey McQueen, Chair

Haydn Forward, Vice-Chair

Buster Green, Commissioner