Roughly 31% of the land in Idaho is privately owned. Wildlife, of course, does not adhere to the same property boundaries as humans. Migratory species especially rely on a patchwork of land ownership to survive from year to year, whether that land is someone’s private ranch, farm, or expansive BLM-managed sagebrush steppe.

Joining the Idaho Wildlife Federation as the Legal Research Intern, Bobby is excited to work with IWF on legal issues relating to Idaho’s fish, wildlife, public lands and outdoor heritage.

Let’s acknowledge off the bat that wolves are a sensitive topic. People love or hate them. They kill livestock, which puts hardship on individuals. Opinions on management typically wedge like-minded folks into two camps: science-based management through the Commission framework or scorched earth. IWF’s stance is this: manage them as game species.

A couple weeks ago, the U.S. Geological Survey released a new report painting an even more dire picture for sage grouse than previously thought. The report finds across its 11-state range, sage-grouse populations have declined 80% since 1965, equating to a 3% annual decline.

Joining IWF as the North Idaho Field Representative, Kyle is excited to begin working to help conserve the fish, wildlife, habitat, and outdoor heritage that we as Idahoans value so much.

HB 99 would direct the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to establish a voluntary program that would increase opportunities to treat polluted water while benefitting fish and wildlife.

HB 113 would re-establish the Big Payette Lake Water Quality Council and Establish a new Cascade Lake Water Quality Council.

The bill would give Utah’s Ken Ivory $250,000 - that’s Idaho taxpayer dollars - to continue his long career grifting taxpayers to fund his various anti-public land schemes, all of which fizzle out, leaving Ivory wealthy with your money.

This weekend Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson released a preliminary proposal to restore Idaho’s salmon and steelhead by breaching the lower Snake River dams and investing in new power generation and transportation infrastructure, among many other things.

In June, Trident Holdings LLC released their informal proposal to privatize and develop as much as 28,000 acres surrounding Payette Lakes. Not surprisingly, the proposal was met with significant pushback from Idahoans and sent Trident back to the drawing board.

Starting in 2021 the Idaho Wildlife Federation will annually sponsor an application for a special big game hunt tag on behalf of a disabled veteran and raise funds to cover the expenses for the hunt.

The early trappers put wildlife migrations into simple terms. Today’s mule deer encounter a few more obstacles along their migrations than those observed by the fur trappers from 200 years ago, but what we are learning today can help us conserve these migrations into the future.

The Army Corps of Engineers has just issued a “No Action” decision for the proposed Lake View Trail in critical big game wintering habitat near Boise. The No Action alternative decision is a tremendous win in the eyes of sportsmen and women who have fought for generations to protect Idaho’s largest migrating mule deer herd from encroachment of development.

This Summer, sportsmen and women rallied together to oppose the Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to construct the Lake View Trail near Lucky Peak Reservoir and within the Boise River Wildlife Management Area.

Columbia and Snake River stocks of salmon and steelhead are circling the drain of extinction. The Columbia-Snake River Operators – the federal agencies who manage the river system infrastructure – have perpetuated a decades-long cycle of failed fish recovery plans found illegal time and again for their shortcomings.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, and Bonneville Power Administration signed a joint Record of Decision(ROD) for the Columbia River System Operations Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), finalizing a years-long process that ultimately left out Idaho communities and industries associated with salmon and steelhead. I

As we’ve seen time and time again, conservation of wildlife and wild places prove to be some of the only avenues that can tear down partisan walls and unite all Americans to take action as one nation. The ACE Act is no exception.