CONSERVATION -- The Idaho House appears to have squandered a great conservation opportunity in order to show it's in control if not necessarily in step with the needs of Idaho sportsmen.

Disgruntled legislators nix Idaho Fish & Game's land purchase
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game planned to use federal funds from the Pittman-Robertson Act, which collects taxes from firearms and ammunition production, to buy the 10,400-acre Rock Creek Ranch near Hailey, currently held by the Wood River Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy. The deal needed no state funding but did required legislative approval. The state Senate approved the deal, but before the House could vote on the measure, the state Fish and Game Commission wrote an op-ed piece critical of the Legislature for trying to set hunting and fishing fees. That was that. The land deal failed to pass the House by one vote.
--Idaho Mountain Express

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