BY KARYL ANN ARMBRUSTER
LWV Los Alamos

Our next Lunch with a Leader will be on February 19 at 11:45 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall of the Unitarian Church.  Our leader will be Garrett VeneKlasen, who will talk about the impact of actions by the current federal administration on our public lands in New Mexico and other conservation-related issues. 

VeneKlasen was a candidate for NM Commissioner of Public Lands in 2018.  Before running for office, he was Executive Director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation.  He later worked as a political advocacy strategist for Conservation Voters of New Mexico and also served as the Southwest Director of Trout Unlimited’s Sportsmen’s Project as well as their Public Lands Coordinator.  He founded the New Mexico Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.  Currently, he is New Mexico Wild’s Northern Conservation Director.

VeneKlasen has fought for federal and state funding for native wildlife, stricter regulation of off- highway vehicles on public lands, higher state water quality standards, stricter regulation on mineral development, and enhanced conservation and protection of threatened and endangered species.