Senate backs emergency feeding for beleaguered E. Idaho elk, deer on 27-3 vote

Idaho Fish & Game expects to spend $400,000 more than anticipated on emergency winter feeding of elk and deer this year, due in part to a major fire in August that burned crucial winter range in eastern Idaho’s Tex Creek Wildlife Management Area. The Senate voted today to approve the expenditure, which comes from Fish & Game’s existing funds, but there were three “no” votes, from Sens. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens; Dan Foreman, R-Moscow; and Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton.

“I’m just not sure I had done enough scrutiny of what the money was being spent for,” said Vick,” and there is some controversy over the value of winter game feeding as well.”

Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, chairman of the Senate Resources Committee, told the Senate that the “harsh winter” has prompted Fish & Game to dig deeper into its dedicated fund that’s set aside for such efforts. He said 53,000 acres burned in August in the Henry’s Creek Fire, including 25,000 acres of the wildlife management area, which he said “is absolutely critical and crucial winter rangeland for 3,500 elk and some 5,000 mule deer. With that rangeland now gone, there is a necessity if we want those elk and deer to survive, we’re going to need to feed them. That is the purpose of this supplemental.”

In response to the fire, the Idaho Fish & Game Commission approved additional harvest in the area along with a plan to initiate emergency winter feeding following the hunting season, depending on snow conditions. The supplemental appropriation, SB 1010 , bill already has cleared the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee; it now moves to the House.