Edward Garcia has stepped down from his role as a member of the New Mexico State Game Commission. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham had appointed Garcia to the commission in March 2023. At that time, he was known as the executive chairman of Garcia Automotive Family Dealerships and co-owner of dealerships in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and El Paso. His family also owns land along the Pecos River.

Efforts to contact Garcia for comment on Friday were not immediately successful. His resignation took effect on August 6, reducing the seven-member commission to six active members.

Garcia's departure is part of an ongoing trend where game commissioners have resigned before completing their terms during Lujan Grisham's administration. Currently, Commissioner Tirzio Lopez is the only remaining member from the original group appointed by the governor in her first term.

During her initial term, Lujan Grisham removed former commission Chair Joanna Prukop and former Vice Chair Jeremy Vesbach, both recognized conservationists. Several other commissioners have also left in recent years, citing personal reasons for their resignations.

Prukop and Vesbach claimed that they were removed because they did not support maintaining a regulation that allegedly allowed landowners to prevent public access to rivers and streams crossing private lands.

In early 2022, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled against this regulation, declaring it unconstitutional for waters flowing over private property to be deemed "private water" closed to public access. The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear further challenges from some dissatisfied landowners regarding this state court decision.

Following these court rulings, NM Attorney General Raúl Torrez initiated legal action against several landowners who blocked public access to parts of the Pecos River. Torrez emphasized that these cases serve as a warning to other landowners throughout New Mexico.

“The New Mexico Supreme Court recently affirmed the constitutional right of every citizen to access public waters for recreational purposes and put private landowners on notice that they are not entitled to exclude others from those waters by fencing off New Mexico’s rivers and streams,” said Torrez last year. “These waters belong to the people of this state and we stand ready to use every available tool to ensure public access to these natural resources.”

In March of this year, Lujan Grisham announced Richard Stump's appointment as chair of the game commission. Stump works as a hunt manager at Troutstaler Ranch on the Chama River. This ranch is owned by Dan Perry, a lawyer with connections in Texas who previously sought unsuccessfully for U.S. Supreme Court intervention on river access issues.

Perry and his relatives have been notable contributors to Lujan Grisham’s political campaigns.

A legislative bill passed both houses in 2023 aimed at protecting game commissioners from being dismissed at will by any governor but failed when Lujan Grisham did not act upon it. A similar proposal is expected during next year's legislative session.