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The New Mexico Game Commission on Friday honored David Soules, the Las Cruces commissioner and conservationist, who died suddenly in March at the age of 63.
Soules was instrumental in creating the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in 2014, including protecting many cultural sites that he himself mapped.
A retired engineer at White Sands Missile Range and an amateur anthropologist, Soules loved backpacking, swimming, canoeing, and hunting. Game and Fish Director Michael Sloane said Soules’ passion for wildlife and wild spaces is clear.
“He was playful and curious at the same time, always calming you down, but asking important questions and always ready to share,” Sloane said.
New Mexico Game and Fish officers present a flag to the family of the late Game Inspector David Soules. (Courtesy of the NM Department of Wild and Fish)
Xochitl Torres Small, a friend of Soules and a former US representative, said she would miss spending time with the nature lover exploring new places.
“David taught me the joy of discovery because he knew it was much more often a process than a goal,” said Torres Small.
Soules served on the New Mexico Wild Board for 11 years. NM Wild director Mark Allison said Soules is an “evangelist for the country.”
The New Mexico State and Colorado State alum has also been a member of the Las Cruces Chapters of the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Mule Deer Foundation, Doña Ana County Associated Sportsmen, New Mexico Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and Ducks Unlimited.
John Cornell, a state representative for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said the nature lover is a “compassionate, intelligent friend.”
“He knew every square foot in southwest New Mexico and was the best spotter I’ve ever hunted with,” Cornell said.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed Soules to the State Game Commission in 2019. He helped negotiate an easement with the State Land Office for hunting and fishing access to state trustee land.
“David Soules was a devoted conservationist, passionate storyteller, beloved husband and father and grandfather,” said Lujan Grisham.
The governor has not yet appointed a commissioner to fill the vacant seat.
Theresa Davis is a member of the Report for America Corps, a water and environmental researcher for the .
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