JANUARY TOWN HALLS

The start of the New Year has been a busy one. Many of us are gearing up for the Idaho Legislature, which begins with the Governor’s State of the State Address Jan. 12th. Agency staff and legislators are scrambling to make edits to budgets, bills and rules.

 Yet amid the frenzied pace and urgency, we were thrilled to have such a robust turnout Tuesday night at our first town hall event of 2026. There was interesting news aplenty shared by legislators and agency directors. So, let’s get right to it.

 Rep. Britt Raybould, Republican from District 34 in eastern Idaho, led the way by sharing some details and motivations of her new constitutional amendment dealing with any land the state acquires from the federal government after July 1, 2026. More specifically, lands acquired by the state would be classified as public and subject to the management guidelines of other state-owned acreage and any money collected from the use, sale or exchange of these lands shall be used for maintaining public lands statewide.

Raybould’s resolution also makes minor changes in the way the state values public land and its many uses. For example, Raybould said her amendment directs that priority of use for newly acquired lands be given to generating revenue and providing public access, a slight change from the current constitutional mandate that prioritizes revenue generating activities and sales of land. Additionally, her joint resolution puts revenue and public access over land exchanges and land sales while also mandating that state-owned land shall not be sold for less than appraised value.

 The emergence of Raybould’s bill is tied to a bill drafted by Sen. Ben Adams, who is pursuing a different strategy for treating any newly acquired federal acreage. Both bills are in response to an effort led by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to sell off federal land last summer. 

 “I just feel that it is time to address some of the questions that have emerged with state lands … in the event federal lands are given to the state in the future,” said Raybould, who received help from Idaho Sportsmen board members in drafting her constitutional amendment. “I’m not interested in upsetting the apple cart once lands are in ownership of the state. This is an attempt to provide greater flexibility and avoid selling public lands just because we may want to sell them.”

 Because she is seeking to amend the constitution, the joint resolution needs two-thirds majority votes in the House and the Senate to qualify for the General Election in November. We will be tracking the progress of both bills when they are introduced in committee, so stay tuned.

On the Department of Fish and Game front, Director Jim Fredericks says it’s too soon to draw any conclusions from the revamped nonresident hunting tag sale. From a 30,000-foot perspective, Fredericks believes the new process, which transitioned from a chaotic over the counter and online queue to a random draw system, went well. Agency staff is still doing the math on revenue generation and trying to determine how many deer and elk tags will be available for subsequent rounds.

 Fredericks says the chronic wasting disease (CWD) monitoring program continues to produce results showing the disease is being held in check – for now. Just one new detection has been reported in recent weeks, this one in the Grangeville area. He says staff is considering whether to expand the existing CWD monitoring boundaries.

 The Fish and Game Commission is gathering for its annual meeting in Boise on January 14-15 Fredericks said. Top line agenda items include approval of the agency’s newly drafted strategic plan, upland bird regulations and updates on the Fisher relocation project in north Idaho, a project the agency tapped the Idaho Trappers Association to help capture the critters used in the repopulation effort.

 Susan Buxton, Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, joined the meeting to share her intention to seek legislative approval for raising fees as a means of generating new revenue in the coming years. Buxton says it’s been several years since Parks and Rec raised fees, but it’s time to spend resources to address ongoing costs, maintenance and the rising cost of health insurance for employees.

 From the Office of Species Conservation (OSC), Administrator Mike Edmondson announced that federal officials recently signed a Record of Decision for managing Sage Grouse. He says the next step is to meet with Bureau of Land Management officials and other stakeholders to discuss implementation across the species’ habitat in southern Idaho.

The 2025 financial math is complete for total livestock depredation caused by wolves and grizzly bears. Edmondson said more than $109,000 will be paid out for kills due to wolves, and more than $540,000 paid to ranchers for loss attributed to grizzlies. Fremont County in eastern Idaho was by far the biggest hotspot for depredation, he said.

 Edmondson was joined by two of his staff members in Boise for the agency board meeting. Boise-based Graham Freeman, Aquatic Species Program Manager and Policy Advisor, and Ryan Banks, Species Program Manager and Policy Advisor based in Lewiston, shared some of the fascinating projects they are working on to restore salmon and steelhead populations in the Clearwater and Salmon basins. It was great to have both of these professionals at the meeting and have the opportunity to learn more about the work they are doing and some of the grant funding they are pursuing for future habitat and species restoration.

Dustin Miller, Director of Idaho Department of Land, shared some news during the meeting about his plan to urge lawmakers to increase fire assessments on property in forested areas, recently inked shared stewardship agreements with the federal government and timber sale data tied to Good Neighbor Authority agreements with the seven national forests in Idaho.

Miller says the agency is also in the process of considering a significant land exchange with the U.S. Forest Service that would involve the state trading about 16,000 acres in return for more than 150,000 acres of forest split among the Boise, Payette and Panhandle national forests.

 “It’s going to take some time to put this together, but we think this is good for the (state) endowment beneficiaries and for the public,” Miller said.

In a lightning round of commentary that typically closes out our monthly town hall, Rep. Rick Cheatum, R-28, expressed some concern about news that CWD and the risk caused by private elk hunting farm operations in eastern Idaho. Sen. Ron Taylor, D-26, said he has also received calls from sportsmen about the reports.

Benn Brocksome, founder of Idaho Sportsmen Access and Opportunity, said he, too has heard sportsmen about the issue, specifically a rule change two years ago dealing with decreased fencing and whether more should be done to prevent elk from escaping or wild game from getting inside the private fenced ranch land.

“The lines are blurred on this issue and we believe this is something worth watching and discussing,” Brocksome said. “Our goal of course is to manage it all correctly and make sure the species aren’t interacting and transmitting disease.”

 Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb 3, the day after Groundhog Day. We hope to see you there or in attendance online.