OCTOBER TOWN HALL
When you consider the pleasant change in weather, throw in the onset of hunting season, and the fact fall fishing is the best fishing… well, suffice it to say attendance Tuesday night was thin. With that in mind, we aimed to keep the meeting short.
The most compelling news of the night came from Mike Edmondson, Administrator for the Office of Species Conservation, who delivered the latest in the fight against Quagga Mussels. As previously reported, sampling indicated the presence of juveniles in stretches of the Snake River upstream of the section of the river treated last summer.
Edmondson said it’s likely that there were some adult mussels that had been reproducing above the Twin Falls dam. He said a second round of treatment, using the same chemical cocktail used last summer, will target the juveniles along a four-mile section of the river. While the positive detection is disappointing, Edmondson said it’s rare to eradicate a species on the first crack. In the last session, the Legislature appropriated over $6 million to fight invasive species. Treatment is scheduled to begin Oct. 8th, and you can read more about the operation, which is linked below.
On the subject of Bull Trout, Edmonson noted that the five-year review has just been completed with no change in the status of the fish. Idaho Fish and Game Deputy Director John Rochelle provided an update on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). As we shared last month, the agency conducted a harvest hunt in response to a positive test on a whitetail deer in Boundary County. He said of the 172 deer taken in the special hunt, two more have since tested positive for CWD.
The good news, Rochelle said, is that it appears the agency caught the presence of CWD early and is taking steps to manage and contain it. Director Jim Fredericks authorized the creation of a CWD management zone that spans a portion of Boundary County east of the Selkirk Divide. You can learn more about the agency response and guidelines for hunters in the affected hunting zone as well as for zones 14, 18, 23, 24 and 32a linked below.
Other items from the agency include:
The Nonresident Hunting Advisory Committee is on track to make recommendations to the Fish and Game Commission by the end of the year.
The Hunting and Advanced Technology Working Group has been formed and includes 25 members representing various issues. Meetings will run from November through March before recommendations are submitted.
The Fish and Game Commission has a new member representing the Magic Valley. Gov. Little recently appointed Mike Roach to replace a commission seat vacated by Greg Cameron. Roach previously served as Natural Resources Director for U.S. Sen. Jim Risch and he also served on the Idaho Parks and Recreation Board.
Wrapping things up, Dustin Miller, Director of the Idaho Department of Lands, provided a briefing on the wildfire season. While fires across the state have become less intense with the weather cooling down, He said burning will likely continue until wetter weather arrives. Some quick facts:
To date, the state has spent $50 million fighting and suppressing wildfires on state, federal, and private lands.
Fires have caused the loss of harvestable timber on state endowment lands and private tracts.
He also made an appeal to hunters heading to the woods this fall. With the majority of wildfires attributable to human-caused starts, Miller urged hunters to be cautious and careful while conditions remain warm and dry. More information about the wildfire season as it relates to IDL lands is available below.
