Conservation isn’t just for endangered species.
It’s also for the diminishing funds of the Natural Heritage New
Mexico Division, a program in the Museum of Southwestern Biology
that works to identify and rehabilitate native endangered species,
said Esteban Muldavin, the division’s curator.
“They (other divisions of the museum) have fishes in bottles
and stuffed birds,” he said. “We track observations of potentially rare species.”
Another rarity: getting increased funding from the Legislative Finance Committee.
Muldavin said the program used to get about $100,000 from the Legislature through the Research and Public Service Project, which funds about 400 programs at state universities.
He said the program is facing a 50 percent reduction in RPSP funding this year, and its projected budget for this year is about $30,000.
“The problem with the LFC process is they’re not understanding what we do,” Muldavin said.
“How can we get a 50 percent cut and someone else gets no cut? We
leverage the money. We get anywhere from $2 to $4 on cost-share back from the state in grants.”
University spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said the administration
tried to work with the LFC to lessen the Natural Heritage division’s budget cuts.
“We were able to reduce the cuts facing the Natural Heritage
division from 50 percent to 20 percent,” she said in an e-mail. “We
know that it is still significant and still hurts, but at least the movement is in a positive direction.”
The division’s botanist Phil Tonne will vacate his position April 1, and because of budget cuts it will not be filled in the immediate future, Muldavin said.
“We’re not rehiring right away,” he said. “If I’m getting cut 50 percent, I have no way to do that cost share. Right now we’re at the risk of being cut.”
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Tonne plans to transfer to another division of the Museum of
Southwestern Biology to work with herbs, but he said there aren’t enough people studying and preserving New Mexico’s plant history.
“We have very few people in the state studying threatened and
endangered species,” he said. “I’m not going to completely abandon
my role with rare plants, but things are definitely changing.” Tonne said New Mexico needs to be aware of species conservation because much of the state’s biodiversity has been lost.
“Some rare species are going to drop out,” he said. “Other species
are going to suffer from our use of the Rio Grande, for instance. If we don’t really take note of these species disappearing, and try to learn from the rare entities that we live with, then we might find ourselves in a condition where species are dropping out not one or two at a time, but whole communities are dropping out.”
McKinsey said the administration worked with the LFC to have more power over how RPSP funds are spent.
“Some (programs funded by RPSP) are facing even more massive
cuts, and our team in Santa Fe has been working hard to convince
lawmakers to allow the institution full flexibility in determining
how cuts will be handled,” she said. “It’s looking positive for UNM retaining that flexibility.”
