Bipartisan effort would improve compensation to ranchers that lose livestock to wolves
From New Mexico Political Report:
A bill that would provide state money to compensate ranchers for direct and indirect losses of livestock to Mexican wolves received unanimous support from the Senate Conservation Committee on Tuesday and an identical one passed the House Agriculture, Acequias and Water Resources Committee.
SB 26 and HB 164 would appropriate $9 million to an existing fund to compensate ranchers for livestock killed by Mexican wolves. It specifies that the available federal funding must be used prior to dipping into the state funds. It also requires that the New Mexico Department of Agriculture determine or confirm that wolves killed the livestock and that the amount ranchers receive be based on fair market values, which are determined quarterly by New Mexico State University.
