Idaho Fish and Game gathers strategic plan feedback

COEUR d’ALENE — Crowding on public lands and predator management were among the hottest topics discussed by outdoorsmen and Idaho Fish and Game officials Tuesday night.

About two dozen people gathered at the Panhandle Regional Office for Idaho Fish and Game in Coeur d’Alene for the first of six meetings across the state where the public can share feedback for the 2025 strategic plan.

The current strategic plan, known as The Compass, was last updated about a decade ago. The plan is a roadmap to chart the strategies the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will use to achieve its mission, centered on the preservation, protection, perpetuation and management of all wildlife within the state of Idaho.

“Can we update the specific action plan to better suit the conditions on the ground today?” Jen Schneider, associate dean of the College of Innovation and Design at Boise State University, asked the audience.

To guide the process of gathering feedback, Fish and Game has identified four priority areas: user satisfaction among hunters, anglers, trappers, wildlife viewers and others; habitat loss; wildlife disease management; and predator management.

Schneider said that more than half of the respondents to a Fish and Game study indicated they were at least “moderately concerned” about the future of wildlife in Idaho. Several attendees of Tuesday’s meeting pointed to an increasing density of hunters as a particular area of concern.

“I’m one of the last people who likes to put restrictions on things,” said Sandy Pod. “But now I see that everybody goes to the same places at the same time. They’re not spread out. We have no elk in the backcountry. Where we used to see thousands of elk, now there’s none.”

Others shared observations about the impact of motor vehicle traffic on wildlife. Some suggested that stronger enforcement of rules surrounding motor vehicles is needed.

“None of the critters want to be in the woods,” said Cody Bartels. “They’re all pushed to private property. I kind of feel like a lot of vehicle traffic has pressured the wildlife out of the national forests. I don’t know if there’s anything that can be done about it.”

Among outdoor sportspersons, Schneider said, no topic is more divisive than that of predator management.

Many of those in attendance Tuesday night indicated the matter is important to them, particularly when it comes to wolves and their impact on elk populations, though opinions varied as to how it should be handled.

T.J. Ross, the regional communications manager for Idaho Fish and Game in the Panhandle Region, emphasized that the updated strategic plan is meant to illustrate a big picture and may not contain all the detailed feedback received from community members. However, he said Fish and Game will accept all feedback and use it where applicable.

“We are listening to it,” he said.

To provide feedback online, visit idfg.idaho.gov/about/strategic-plan/update.