Wildlife Within Walls New Education Center, Paid For Entirely By Donations, Opens To Public

The asphalt leading to the entrance of the new Idaho Wildlife Center was fresh and christened with dusty footprints Saturday morning.

It had been laid just one day before the center’s grand opening. The new educational center will be used for fairs, sportsmen’s expos and classes.

“I told the guy from Interstate (Concrete and) Asphalt that ‘I’d be yelling and screaming at you because this was supposed to be in by now, but because you’re donating it, I’ll just say thanks,”’ joked Ed Lehman, the driving force behind the new wildlife center at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds.

Lehman of Laclede, Idaho, is chairman of the Region 1 Wildlife Council and an outspoken opponent of the Idaho citizen’s initiative to ban spring bait and hound hunting of bears.

All the materials, labor and money used to build the $40,000 structure were donated. The project came together in about three months, soon after sportsmen’s groups joined to fight the initiative, Lehman said.

“What this shows is what sportsmen really do to contribute to Idaho,” said Don Clower, state chairman of the Wildlife Council and chairman of Sportsmen’s Heritage Defense Fund, which formed to fight the bear initiative. “Most of all, we care about wildlife.”

Saturday was the dedication and open house for the building, timed to coincide with an all-day North Idaho Sportsmen’s Expo.

Despite the fact that the building is unfinished, it still contained exhibits from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the Wildlife Council and the Lake Pend Orielle Idaho Club.

“We’ll have it ready by fair time,” Lehman said.

Eventually, Lehman hopes to have it painted with murals, and the Department of Fish and Game will install a permanent wildlife exhibit.

Fish and Game representatives said they were excited by the prospects of using the building for education exhibits and classes.

Their temporary exhibit displayed photos of hunters and anglers volunteering their efforts for habitat protection and education. One sign informed visitors that sportsmen spent $200 million in 1991 to hunt and fish in Idaho.

Despite an agency survey that showed a majority of hunters and non-hunters oppose hunting bear with bait and hounds, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission has taken a stance against the measure.

In the main fair building were more exhibits, including one for the North Idaho Tree Hound Association.

Brook Moore and her two hounds, Griz and Tess, sat at the table displaying literature about hound-hunting and bumper stickers that read, “Save Idaho! Spay or neuter anti-hunters.”

As Griz nuzzled her hand in hopes of a caress, Moore explained that her dogs aren’t the vicious beasts that some folks make them out to be.

“A lot of people think they run right out and kill, kill, kill,” she said. “All they do is track.”

The new building, she said, will help teach urbanized Idahoans about the outdoors and wildlife, and the hunter’s role in managing wildlife populations and preserving habitat.

“Without us,” she said, “Fish and Game wouldn’t have the money to do what they do.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo