Locally-led efforts to prevent extinctions and help at-risk wildlife species across the nation would be funded through new bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act will allocate approximately $17.6 million to Idaho each year, which the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will use to help hundreds of species of concern, including bighorn sheep, sharp-tailed grouse, and mountain goats.

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.