In brief: House approves end to responder fees

BOISE – The Idaho House has approved legislation that would prohibit communities from charging fees when emergency responders are called to traffic accidents.

The bill sponsored by Nampa Republican Rep. Christy Perry cleared the House on Friday on a 54-7 vote.

Perry said state lawmakers should be opposed to letting local governments bill for emergency services already being paid for by tax dollars.

The bill applies only to responses to motor vehicle crashes and doesn’t prohibit fees for ambulance and towing services or repairs to public property.

It now goes to the Senate for review.

Senate rejects limits on Land Board

BOISE – Senators on the Resources Committee sent a clear message: The Legislature shouldn’t meddle in the Land Board’s business managing Idaho’s endowment properties.

They rejected a measure Friday to require the state Land Board to sell or lease all improvements on endowment-owned ground, and sell all business operations.

Sen. Dean Cameron of Rupert was among those who said it was an unconstitutional infringement on the executive branch because it curbed the Land Board’s ability to invest in the highest-yielding properties.

The measure emerged after the endowment’s 2010 purchase of Affordable Self Storage in Boise, criticized by some as state interference with the private sector.

House approves bill to expand ATV hunts

BOISE – Backcountry trails on Idaho’s federal lands would open to all-terrain vehicle-riding hunters, under a measure passed by the House over Department of Fish and Game objections.

Thursday’s 48-21 vote sends it to the Senate.

Currently, Fish and Game’s rules require hunters in a third of Idaho’s hunting units to steer clear of off-road vehicle trails.

This bill lifts restrictions, something ATV users say will remedy confusion over where they can ride.

Fish and Game commissioners opposed this measure, however, arguing it hurts their ability to shield game from overharvest.

Skiers report seeing wolverine at resort

KALISPELL – Skiers at Whitefish Mountain Resort received an additional thrill with the sighting of a wolverine on the slopes.

Ski patroller Chuck Cameron said he found a deer carcass in the area along with wolverine tracks and scat about 200 yards from the base of a chairlift.

Flathead National Forest wildlife biologist Amy Jacobs told the Daily Inter Lake that several people called her about spotting the elusive predator on Monday.

Cameron said he could only recall one other time a wolverine spotting occurred, 10 years ago.