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Feb 27, 2025

Idaho Fish and Game rewriting wildlife management plans | ktvb.com

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BOISE, Idaho — From massive grizzlies to the smallest stream-dwelling fish, the wild residents that call Idaho home are treasures of the Gem State. With a growing population of people threatening to disrupt the landscape, a new plan aims to balance conservation with the increasing demands on natural resources.

For the first time in a decade, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) is rewriting its overarching Strategic Plan - also referred to as the department's Compass.

In the past 10 years since publishing the last Strategic Plan, the state's landscape and environment has changed - and there's still the need to maintain a proper balance between humans and the environment.

As they look for public input on its new plan, officials say Fish and Game's core mission remains unchanged.

"Sustaining Idaho's fish and wildlife - that's always going to be a core value and core objective of what we do," IDFG Director Jim Fredericks said.

The updated plan aims to use new and different strategies to adapt and accomplish those goals while staying true to its mission. For example, habitat loss is a much greater concern now than it was even a decade ago.

"We see more energy development, we see more urban development, there are just a lot of changes with habitat," Fredericks said. "So how do we position ourselves to do the best thing that we can under the existing framework and existing demands on wildlife habitat."

Fredericks said one of the things they're exploring is working more with private landowners and agriculture producers because although two-thirds of the state is public lands, he said private lands are just as crucial for wildlife management and recreation.

Another priority for the agency is taking more command over diseases that have becoming more prominent in the state since their last Strategic Plan.

"With Chronic Wasting Disease on the landscape here in Idaho, and other diseases that affect deer like EHD primarily in Northern Idaho, those are here to stay - and I think it's going to take a different focus on our part," Fredericks said.

The broader strategic plan is being reworked while IDFG also writes individual species management plans for animals like deer and elk - that aim to balance the species' populations with impacts on the environment.

Idaho Fish and Game is taking input and feedback for their new Strategic Plan and are having public meetings at the following locations: