IDAHO WILDLIFE FEDERATION

January 12, 2017

Summary:

Join Us at the

Legislature

Auction Tags

Public Lands

IDFG License Fee

Increase

Recovering

America’s Widlife Act

Other Bills

2017 Legislative Preview

Sage grouse thankful for IWF’s efforts to preserve their habitat and working landscapes.

Here we go again! The 2017 Legislature started this week. That means IWF is bird dogging the legislative calendar minute by minute to make sure every single bill that affects wildlife, habitat, public access, and sporting opportunity is thoroughly analyzed. Each bill will be examined for all possible benefits and drawbacks, loopholes for future legislative changes, slippery political language, fiscal impacts, and ultimately a non-partisan and informed stance from the Idaho Wildlife Federation, the sportsmen voice in the state legislature. Below are a few topics coming down the pipeline, and a few other quick reads worth consideration.

2017 Auction Tag Legislation Early this year, IWF filed a public records request to get to the bottom of the axing of

two IDFG Commissioners. What we found is now well known: backroom deals, secret

discussions, legislators purposefully driving a wedge between the IDFG agency and

agriculture interests, and explicit disregard for sportsmen at large. IWF has taken the

lead on publicizing these actions, educating sportsmen on how to defeat future auc-

tion tag bills, offered an online platform to easily connect sportsmen with legislators,

made a petition, and we will watchdog the legislative process until the bill is dead.

We know the special interests have met with decision makers to pass auction

tag legislation this session with 12 mandated tags, and another 12 mandated

raffle tags. The issue here of course, isn ’t auction tags. It’s that this legislation was

never favored by sportsmen and our government is supposed to represent the people,

not a handful of connected or wealthy elites. Here’s more info on the 2017 legislation.

If you want to easily send a letter to your state representatives to ask them to stop

legislative mandates of auction tags, click here. If you want to see IWF continue to

represent sportsmen and fight against unpopular ideas, click here.

Join IWF at the 2017 Legislature The Idaho Wildlife Federation is the only full-time sportsman voice in the state

legislature. We have taken great strides to build our membership and affiliate

network so we can better represent Idahoans around the state to effectively address

issues important to sportsmen and women.

We now have over 14,000 affiliated mem-

bers! But we still need citizens present at

the Capitol to drive home messages to

legislators.

If you receive our newsletter, be sure to

check your inbox for IWF updates and

action alerts because we will eventually

need you at the statehouse to add your individual voice in opposition or sup-

port of any number of bills. IWF will provide you with any background information

you need, help craft your testimony, and walk you through the process. For any

questions, our number is listed on our website.

With an army of sportsmen behind us, and a slew of tools and laws at our disposal,

we plan on having another successful legislative session. If you want to help fund

our efforts in the legislature, click here to become a member.

Sportsmen march on the Capitol 2016

Public Lands Bills We’ve already been promised several bills will come forth that aim to take your

voice out of the picture when it comes to public land management. It turns out that

most Americans oppose the public lands takeover idea, and sportsmen more than

anyone, are becoming an annoying obstacle for politicians. Their answer to this

obstacle? Pass legislation to remove your voice. Not convinced? Here is a public

lands takeover bill that Idaho Rep. Judy Boyle promised to reintroduce this year, after

IWF helped kill it in 2016. Among other issues which we will discuss, there isn’t one

mention of mandating public input or no net loss of accessible acreage. Red

flag, right?

IWF has already discussed the pros and cons of public lands. Ultimately it’s the best

system in the world for average sportsmen and abundant wildlife. With that, lets take

a look at the ways our state legislature plans to rob you of your American birthright.

Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act: District 9’s Rep. Judy Boyle will bring

back HB 582 which uses the “Equal Footing” doctrine as a legal foundation for states

to manage public lands. Not only do 11 Western state Attorney Generals agree that

tactic will lose (with 200+ years of legal precedence), but the Constitution’s Property

Clause specifically overrules the equal footing argument. The bill’s title sounds harm-

less, but sportsmen need consider the following: No public input language, no details

of habitat standards, no mention of public access, no guarantee of lands dedicated to

recreation, and on and on. What we

are promised is “most efficient” use.

Something tells us that doesn’t con-

sider hunting, fishing, camping and

the like. In fact, IWF approached

Mrs. Boyle to fulfill her verbal prom-

ise that state management wouldn’t

affect public access by offering an

amendment of “No Net Loss of Ac-

cessible Acreage”. She turned it

down. Furthermore, Colorado

passed an identical “Multiple Use”

bill 25 years ago. Now only 20% of

state land is accessible, and that is

only because extra fees on hunting licenses pay for the access.

“No Cession of Federal Lands” Bill: This is a bill so bad it doesn’t even

have a name. Another Rep. Judy Boyle bill resurrecting from 2016, HB 586 would

mandate that any sale of lands to the federal government needs state legislative ap-

proval. That means when an Idaho timber company buys federal property to harvest

timber and sells it back afterwards (which is common), they need a legislative ap-

proval vote. If that seems like state intrusion of property rights you’d be correct. It

also means that there would be no more Wildlife Refuges, Land and Water Conser-

vation Fund purchases, or conservation easements acquired by Pittman-Robertson

or Forest Legacy funds.

Memorial Bill for Labrador’s Public Lands Takeover Bill

Yet another 2016 bill from Rep. Judy Boyle, HJM 14, will most likely come back. This

bill supports Raul Labrador’s HR 2316 which would transfer an unlimited amount of

USFS acreage to a state. Rep. Labrador’s national bill is widely considered one of

the worst bills written in the last few years.

Conservation Easements

A couple conservation easements are predicted this session to pass through Idaho

Department of Lands funding. Funding for easements comes from federal sources

appropriated to states to enhance habitat and public access on private lands. When

these issues arise, IWF will base our support on the benefits to wildlife, the public,

and working landscapes.

What Else…

It’s impossible to predict them all. We know there are other bad public lands bills in

the making that haven’t published. Keep checking your inbox for updates from IWF.

Follow us on Facebook for current news, and on Twitter for live legislative updates.

Fly fishing a healthy watershed on Idaho public lands

Click here to send a letter to your state and federal

legislators to tell them you stand with public lands!

Become an IWF member to support our work!

Hunting and Fishing License Fee Increase The Idaho Department of Fish and Game

has submitted their legislative package to

the Governor and he has given it approv-

al, but stopped short of voicing support.

IWF has been hammering the importance

of this fee increase to the Governor,

sportsmen, and the legislature.

Sportsmen: If approved, the fee in-

crease will go into effect in 2018. If you

are a license purchaser year after year,

the cost of your license will not be

affected. This will incentivize those

who only occasionally buy licenses to

purchase regularly to price lock their fee.

Otherwise, licenses fees will only in-

crease $1 to $6 dollars. Not bad consid-

ering surrounding state resident license

fees are near double Idaho’s. We will

need sportsman support for the fee

increase when the bill arrives in Commit-

tee. IWF will keep you informed when

the time comes, help craft your testimo-

ny, and celebrate our victory to properly

fund wildlife management, habitat en-

hancement, and catching poachers.

Legislators: IWF’s message to the legis-

lature is clear: Sportsmen want this bill to

pass free of riders. No auction tag

language, no raffle tag language, just a

clean fee increase! IWF will call on Sen.

Bair, Chairman of the Sen. Natural Re-

sources Committee, to uphold his prom-

ise that he wants to generate funds for

IDFG and support a clean fee increase

bill unburdened by unpopular amend-

ments, which would only kill the bill. Will

he fulfill that promise? Stay tuned.

If you ‘ve appreciated IWF’s work to pass the license fee increase free of auction

tag riders, become a member now so we can continue to uphold sportsman values

Recovering America’s Wildlife Act Background: The Idaho Department of fish and game is exclusively funded by

sportsmen dollars and matching funds like Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson.

These funds were enacted by sportsmen as a self imposed tax on hunting and fishing

equipment sales so money could pay for habitat projects and recovering wildlife pop-

ulations. License dollars and the matching funds

worked well for a long time.

Current Situation: Although game species are

doing rather well, all other wildlife species populations

(insects, amphibians, non-sport fish, small mammals,

birds, etc.) on average have declined 50% since the

70s. It doesn’t take a scientist to know that without a

healthy ecosystem, sport fish and game will follow.

The Process: The Blue Ribbon Panel, made up of the country’s top government

and wildlife officials, and leaders in industry like the Bass Pro Shop’s CEO, was

charged with examining the current system of conservation funding and recommend-

ing a new mechanism that will conserve all fish and wildlife.

The Solution: After many deliberations and over two dozen

plans, the Panel found consensus- the only way to not only halt

the decline of America’s wildlife, but recover populations, is to

form an annual fund of $1.3 billion to be distributed to wildlife

management agencies for non-game management. The money

comes from an already existing fund of federal money. If we’re

serious about recovering America’s wildlife, this is our best plan.

The Benefits: This fund will benefit Idaho sportsmen in

many ways. 1) The weight of being the sole funders of wildlife management will final-

ly be lifted from sportsmen shoulders. Our dollars have been used to benefit game

and non-game species management while everyone, non-hunters included, has ben-

efited. 2) Game species share habitat with non-game species. Funds allocated by

RAWA will provide for habitat restoration and ecosystem resiliency, ultimately sup-

porting fish and game. 3) RAWA is a proactive

measure that will keep species off the endangered

species list and prevent controversial restrictions

that come with listing. The IDFG Commission is

already in support of the measure.

The Next Steps: IWF is collecting sportsmen

and wildlife organization signatures of support as

well as industry support. If your club or business is interested in supporting RAWA,

contact IWF and we will bring your names to our Congressional Delegation in DC.

Become a member of IWF and ensure

sportsmen and wildlife have a voice in Idaho!

Possible Habitat, Wildlife, and Sportsmen Bills We’ve discussed the interconnectedness of ecological, cultural, and economic re-

sources of public lands. When one resource is utilized or protected, another is im-

pacted in some way. There is no predicting what bills will come up that may nega-

tively impact the wildlife resource, but they continually pop up year to year. To get a

sense of what these look like, here are a few examples.

Suction Dredge Mining Bill: Suction dredge mining machines float an en-

gine and other operating mechanisms on a raft. A large hose is used to suck sedi-

ment from river or creek bottoms. Ore is captured while sediment is disposed down

stream. This sediment smothers salmonid and trout eggs while also burying cobbled

stream beds trout prefer for nesting and nymph feeding. Performed responsibly and

outside fish spawning seasons, suction dredge mining’s impacts to habitat can be

mitigated. But last session, HB

510 did away with mitigation.

The bill would redefine “small

scale suction dredging” to the

following parameters: No limit

on the engine’s horsepower, no

permit or oversight of opera-

tions (mind that even boaters

and fishermen pay a fee to

conserve the resource), allow

the removal of a dump truck

load of sediment per hour, open

up 80,000+ miles of stream habitat to mining even in sensitive endangered species

habitat (salmon, bull trout, red band trout, etc.), and no required reporting of operat-

ing locations, e.g. no responsibility or accountability for clean up. IWF’s take on the

matter: suction dredging shouldn’t affect the cultural and economic vitality of the

fishery resource. It needs to be done in a responsible, regulated way that doesn’t

negatively impact fish.

Increased Poaching Fines Bill: Right now the cost of getting caught poach-

ing an elk is still less than the market prices per pound for beef. Meaning poachers

will take the risk because they will only be fined as if they were buying discounted

meat– hardly an incentive to stop. Some national studies indicate poachers kill al-

most as many animals as legitimate hunters do during legal seasons. Poaching is

serious. They steal from licensed hunters, rob taxpayers of revenues generated by

hunting, and deprive us all of a valuable resource — our wildlife. So last year when

a fine increase was presented, former Senator Sheryl Nuxoll shot the bill down stat-

ing, “if my citizens were caught poaching they just couldn’t afford it”... That’s right.

IWF will work to reintroduce and support this bill to incentivize poachers to stop.

Others: It’s impossible to know what interests will bring forward what kind of bills.

More often than not we don’t predict them all. Remember to sign up on our website

for updates on legislative issues that will affect sportsmen like you!

That’s it folks! That is what we see coming down the pipeline. IWF is

committed to fostering relationships with legislators and connecting

you to your government so sportsmen can once again be a well orga-

nized, well informed, and influential constituency. Good luck with the

waterfowl season!

Become a member of the Idaho Wildlife Federation

today and support wildlife, habitat, and sporting

opportunity for current and future generations!