HB 658 was met with more opposition in the Senate Committee. MARCH 14- Another lengthy testimony for HB 658 has led to another twist in this saga. The bill is being sent to the 14th Order where amendments to the bill will be considered and...

HB 658 successfully avoided the two standing Committees reserved for reviewing criminal and civil law legislation- House and Senate Judiciary and Rules. In a rather nontraditional path, the bill lobbied for by the Texas Wilks brothers has weaved...

Sportsmen don’t have a stake to argue with this bill, but they need our money to pay for it. Tuesday, March 6 saw HB 658 (HB 536‘s resurrected form) got a hearing in the House Agriculture Affairs Committee. Testimonies were given by...

Trespass bill is back from the dead. After her original bill became too toxic to support, Rep. Judy Boyle (R-Midvale) introduced a similar, longer, more confusing bill attempting to fix… something? Advocates for transparency and general...

On it’s surface, HB 608 appeared to be a bill that would retain multiple-use for any state lands acquired by a federal land takeover. It also states that newly acquired lands would not necessarily be used to maximize profits. That seems...

HB 461 would allow Idaho lawmakers to nullify federal laws, regulations, or U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Sound impossible? Well, it is. The proposed law would directly violate the U.S. Constitution. Specifically, it violates the Supremacy...a

Currently, the Department of Parks and Recreation is governed by a board of six people, each representing a different region in Idaho. Board members are appointed by the Governor based on professional relevance. The board has the power “to...

HB 536 places burden of delineating property lines on sportsmen, recreationists. Representative Judy Boyle’s House Bill 536 is a whopping 15 pager that takes direct aim at those who utilize public lands. As good sportsmen know, it is...

For the first time, Colorado College’s “State of the Rockies” survey included Idaho voters. The survey, conducted by two research companies with opposing political leanings, polls registered voters across the West on issues of...

Anyone can block you from accessing your public lands, roads, trails, and right of ways, waters, and they can do it legally. You read that right. There currently exists no Idaho law protecting your right to access public areas that you pay for...

Proactive Bipartisan Bill offers a solution to match the scale of the problem. Background: The Idaho Department of Fish and Game and all state wildlife agencies are tasked with managing all fish and wildlife within their state, yet are...

2017 Legislative Session Review

H.R. 3144 would force continued path of failing salmon and steelhead recovery, and end the current process to find alternatives to recovery. In the midst of critically low salmon and steelhead returns, Labrador has just put his name on a...

Photo: Camellia Ibrahim Why the low numbers? The only woodland caribou left in the lower 48 are here in northern Idaho where there are only about a dozen deep in the forests around the Selkirk Mountains. They migrate into Southern Canada within...

Idaho Wildlife Federation Hosts Sportsman Gubernatorial Candidate Forum Contact: Brian Brooks, Idaho Wildlife Federation Executive Director (208.870.7967) BOISE- The Idaho Wildlife Federation and 17 affiliated sportsman and wildlife groups across...

Amidst a forced closure of Idaho steelhead harvest due to critically low returns, H.R. 3144 says anadromous fish recovery is working, would force continued path of failing efforts. H.R. 3144 calls for overturning two recent decisions by the U.S...

Idaho Representative Raul Labrador voted to continue using tax dollars to explore ways to transfer public lands straight to private ownership, contradicting own claims. WASHINGTON D.C. – On September 13, 2017 Idaho Representative Raul...