Sportsmen Agree On Key Point State’s Wildlife Agency Broken And Needs Fixing

The two men who fought head to head over a bear hunting initiative during Idaho’s last environmental showdown could take the same side in the one now brewing.

Both Don Clower, chairman of the Idaho Sportsman’s Heritage Fund, and Lynn Fritchman of the Idaho Coalition United want to keep Idaho’s Fish and Game Commission healthy.

They say the system for managing Idaho’s wild animals and fish is broken and that fixing it is critical because wildlife and fish are fundamental to Idaho’s quality of life and economy.

Neither has much hope the Legislature will take on the task, and Clower said it might take an initiative to restore independence and a stable funding base to the agency charged with protecting Idaho’s wildlife.

Fritchman said he would lend support, with some reservations.

“If the statute was properly crafted so the Legislature couldn’t divert any Fish and Game funds to anything other than wildlife management, I think it would be a very good thing,” Fritchman said.

None of Fish and Game’s budget comes from state taxpayers. But the Fish and Game Commission still must get its spending approved by the Legislature.

This year, the agency is asking for 4 percent less than last year. In addition, it wants to raise $1.4 million more for its $54 million budget by increasing deer and elk tag fees by $6.

In the past decade, lawmakers forced Fish and Game to spend its limited funds to pay other agencies for predator control and farmers for depredation. At the same time the agency has cut back its warden force, reduced fish stocking and delayed buying new trucks and snowmobiles.

“It’s just been totally out of kilter,” Clower said. “There is just way too much politics now.”

One bill has already been filed that would divert even more money from the department. Rep. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, has proposed selling licenses to nonresident relatives of Idaho residents at reduced rates. And Cameron has expressed doubts about the tag increase the commission has proposed.

But Sen. Laird Noh, chairman of the Senate Resources and Environment Committee, said he senses among legislators, “a reasonable willingness to listen and respond” to Fish and Game.

Other self-supporting commissions in the state, like the Wheat and Potato commissions, are given a limit to what they can spend and then allowed to raise their fees up to that, Rep. Dave Bivens, R-Meridian said. Perhaps lawmakers could approve such a limit for Fish and Game and then let the commission work.

“Sometimes you have to take off the handcuffs and let them do the job,” he said.