IDFG News

IDFG Commission to meet in Boise

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will meet Jan. 25-26 at the Fish and Game headquarters in Boise.

The commission's annual meeting will start with a public comment period starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening, Jan. 25. Routine agenda items include setting seasons for upland game, furbearers and turkey; a legislative budget preview and a big game briefing.

A complete agenda will be available on the Fish and Game website http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/about/commission/.

Comments sought on land-exchange

The Idaho departments of Fish and Game and Parks and Recreation are seeking public comments on a proposal to exchange 45 acres of the 34,000-acre Boise River Wildlife Management Area for 180 acres of private land nearby owned by the Harris Family LTD Partnership.

Adjacent urban activities have affected big game winter use of the 45-acre parcel. The replacement 180 acres, about a mile away, are more secluded big game winter range. Its acquisition by Fish and Game would enlarge the Boise River Wildlife Management Area, connect an isolated 80-acre Fish and Game parcel to the rest of the wildlife management area and would prevent development in critical big game winter range.

The 180 acres to be acquired by Fish and Game would become part of the Boise River Wildlife Management Area. Public use of the Homestead Trail, part of the public Ridge-to-Rivers trail system, would continue to be managed by Fish and Game on the 45-acre parcel after it is exchanged to Harris.

Because the 45 acres was purchased with federal Land and Water Conservation Funds in 1964, the "conversion and replacement" land requires National Park Service approval and an environmental assessment of the proposed land exchange.

Fish and Game and Parks and Recreation are requesting public comments on the environmental assessment, which is available for review online at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/media/harrisLandExchange.pdf (4.4MB).

IDFG buys Hammer Flat

Southwest Idaho's deer, elk and pronghorn herds have a much brighter future because of the Boise City Council's decision Dec. 20, to sell Hammer Flat to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The 700-acre property east of Boise is an important remnant of historic winter range that once extended from the foothills west to Lake Lowell in Canyon County.

"Hammer Flat's purpose is to provide critical wildlife habitat and wildlife-based recreation opportunities, including hunting and wildlife viewing," Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore said. "But we are willing to consider other outdoor recreational activities, including hang gliding."

Idaho Fish and Game will develop a management plan for the property with public input. The process could start sometime next spring.

Fish and Game plans to use $4.23 million in wildlife mitigation funds provided by Bonneville Power Administration to purchase Hammer Flat. A closing date hasn't been set.

Mitigation funds are designed to help offset impacts on wildlife habitat caused by hydropower development in the Northwest.

Hammer Flat is adjacent to Fish and Game's 34,000-acre Boise River Wildlife Management Area.