Patagonia resident Retired Lieutenant General Jeffrey Buchanan, an avid and experienced outdoorsman and native Arizonan, was recently appointed to serve on the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. Buchanan was nominated by then-Governor Ducey, to fill the position vacated by Elgin resident Leland (Bill) Brake whose term had expired. His appointment is pending confirmation by the State Senate.
After Buchanan retired from the Army with 37 years of service in 2019, he and his wife Laura moved to Patagonia in the summer of 2020. He graduated from Buena High School, and in his youth was an Eagle Scout who enjoyed hiking, riding horses, rock climbing and exploring caves. He continues many of these activities to date. He has been a bow hunter for 50 years and an angler all his life. For the past two summers, he was a deckhand on a charter boat, fishing in Alaska for halibut and salmon. Buchanan and his wife are both natives of Arizona and both have degrees in wildlife ecology from the University of Arizona. “This leads me to believe that I have some unique experiences and education to help to manage the state’s wildlife,” said Buchanan.
“I love wildlife and I believe in conservation,” he said. He added that the State’s Game and Fish Department gets zero funding from Arizona general tax dollars. Most of their funding comes from public spending on things like fishing and hunting licenses, tags or stamps, and federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition. “Hunters and anglers, more than any other group, support management of wildlife and it is not just game species, but all wildlife,” he added.
The U.S., Canada, and Mexico all operate under the North America Model of Wildlife Conservation (NAMWC) which is regarded as the most successful system of policies and laws to restore and safeguard fish and wildlife and their habitats. Under the NAMWC, wildlife belongs to all the people, not just landowners or politicians or the rich, and is held in the public trust managed by the State Game and Fish Commission.
The Commission sets seasons and bag limits, game laws and wildlife management policy, and helps to shape the overall mission and vision of the department. Buchanan noted that hunters reduce population, but so do predators, the effects of climate or weather events, disease, or relocation and loss of habitat. “All of these kinds of things can impact wildlife population, so we must have a good handle on what those populations are and what the carrying capacity of the land is in order to set the right season and bag limits, so we manage it properly,” he said.
Buchanan identified several challenges the Commission is faced with, including mitigating the impact on the budget of the decline in hunters and anglers, and the need to reach out and recruit more participants. “The department does a tremendous amount of good managing birds and non-game species and has partnerships directly with the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society, but bird watchers don’t necessarily contribute directly to funding of the management of the species they enjoy watching.” There are also challenges with endangered species, said Buchanan. He explained that, though rare, in our area we have jaguars and ocelots moving back and forth from Mexico. With border security infrastructure, the Commission is challenged to ensure these animals can continue to move freely across the border. “There’s a balance to be had and personally, as a guy who oversaw the military support to border security, I think it’s relatively easily done, but it will take resources to make it happen” Buchanan said.
Buchanan highlighted the challenge of mining industry impacts which may have repercussions on wildlife conservation. He added that the Commission has the authority to review mining operation impacts on wildlife and would be working in concert with the Forest Service. Even though much of the land may be privately owned, the Commission has jurisdiction over the wildlife on those lands.
Buchanan also serves on the AZ State Parks and Trails Board. He is a Senior Fellow for the National Defense University, serves on two non-profit boards and is a member of the National Wildlife Federation, Arizona Elk Society, and numerous other organizations engaged in conserving and monitoring hummingbirds, bats, wild turkeys, and ducks. He is also a Volunteer for the County’s Law Enforcement Assist Team as ranch liason officer.
Buchanan commanded troops at every level from platoons to theater armies and served four combat tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He led the military response in support of FEMA for five major hurricanes and led more than 6,000 soldiers and marines supporting Homeland Security on our southwest border. In January 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives asked Buchanan to analyze the security challenges and cultural and leadership failures of the U.S. Capitol Police. He spent six weeks in Washington D.C. and met with law enforcement and intelligence leaders to analyze everything from infrastructure to cyber security culminating in three presentations to congressional members from both political parties and testifying before the House Administration Committee on what he learned. As a result, Congress passed legislation with overwhelming bipartisan support to fulfill his recommendations and enhance security of the Capitol. Buchanan has appeared on numerous national and international television shows on all U.S. major networks and has been quoted in more than 50 major newspapers seeking his expertise.
When asked about Buchanan’s message to our community, he stated, “We are all owners of wildlife, and it is held in the public trust. We are all responsible for it and I encourage everybody to speak up and get involved to help out. If you have an opinion about something then let us know because we need to hear from the owners.”
For additional information: visit www.azgfd.com or www.azgfd.com/agency/commission/