Idaho hunting, fishing fee bill hits bull’s-eye

BOISE – Legislation that will raise Idaho’s hunting and fishing fees and dramatically increase funds available to pay wildlife crop damage claims passed the Idaho House on a 43-26 vote Tuesday.

The bill – a compromise between Idaho Fish and Game commissioners and Rep. Mark Gibbs, R-Grace – will bump hunting and fishing fees by 20 percent, but freeze prices for people who purchase licenses every year. It also will usher in a $5 license surcharge for Idaho residents and $10 for nonresidents.

In January, Gibbs, chairman of the House Resources and Conservation Committee, held the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s original fee increase bill and demanded changes be made to its depredation program. In response, commissioners added the surcharge, which would generate revenue that would be split, with half going to improve access to private land and half going to the state’s wildlife depredation program. The depredation revenue will also be split, with 50 percent going to prevention and 50 percent to a fund from which crop damage claims are paid. A provision of the bill allows the crop damage fund to grow from its current capped size of $750,000 to $2.5 million.

It now moves on to the Senate for consideration.

Much of the opposing debate Tuesday stemmed from concerns about Fish and Game’s perceived bias and long delays in handling landowner depredation claims.

“The long and short of it is we need an unbiased way to file a claim with the department,” said Rep. Steven Miller, R-Fairfield.

While the bill offers some improvements, Miller said there’s still too much uncertainty about when a depredation claim can be filed and how it’s adjudicated.

“It needs to be sent back so we can have a serious talk about how to settle claims in an unbiased way,” he said.

Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale, spoke of a neighbor who had about 75 elk in his fields during the summer. He’s still waiting for a resolution to the depredation claim he submitted then.

In the meantime, the 75 elk have swelled to hundreds this winter. They wait in the fields until dark before raiding his barns for hay, causing extensive damage to the building.

“I can’t support a fee increase for Fish and Game until they straighten this out,” Boyle said.

Other speakers, however, suggested the agency had clearly heard the criticism and concerns about how the depredation claims are handled.

“I’m in full agreement; Fish and Game hasn’t handled this appropriately (in the past),” said Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene. “But I think they’ve heard the message, and I believe they need the resources provided by this bill to adequately address this issue. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

Rep. Fred Wood, R-Burley, said he never thought the Idaho Farm Bureau would support a Fish and Game fee increase, but the group is supportive of this legislation.

“They understand it’s a paradigm shift,” he said. “The department is acknowledging that it ought to pay for depredation to agriculture. It’s not a perfect bill, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. And it finally starts supplying enough money to take care of some of the depredation problems.”

The department typically pays about $250,000 annually to farmers who suffer damage from deer and elk. This year the payout is expected to be about $750,000 because the harsh winter has driven animals to raid haystacks across much of Southern Idaho.

Mike Keckler, spokesman for the department, said the fee increase will pay for things like fish hatchery modernization and increased fish production, elk and deer population monitoring, predator management and improving and maintaining public shooting ranges.

Fees for residents have been flat since 2005. At the same time, costs have risen by about 22 percent, Keckler said. In response, the department has cut back on the number of rainbow trout it raises in hatcheries, reduced the frequency of enforcement patrols and reduced staffing by about 10 full-time employees.