IDFG’s high-stakes strategic plan needs more work—Here’s how to give wildlife a voice

Idaho’s native wildlife sustains and inspires us. Wild creatures give us comfort and endless entertainment. They enhance our everyday experiences—whether we’re visiting remote, wild landscapes across our state or sitting in our backyards.

The 1938 citizens’ initiative that created the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) declared “all wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish… shall be preserved, protected, perpetuated, and managed” for the people of Idaho. 

For the majority of 2025, you’ve had a seat at the conservation table as IDFG coordinated an ambitious, high-stakes effort to update their 10-year strategic plan. They spoke of its magnitude by stating, “much has changed in Idaho since (the 2015 plan) so it’s important for those who value wildlife to provide input on how Fish and Game can fulfill its mission in the future.” 

ICL couldn’t have agreed more. We encouraged IDFG to use the process to form a new pact between the agency and the citizens of Idaho that reinforces a commitment to the conservation needs of all wildlife—not just the animals hunted, fished, or trapped.

This spring, ICL supporters directed nearly 900 public comments to IDFG—double the number of all other comments received by the agency. Your insights challenged IDFG to rediscover their “North Star” and to develop an updated conservation vision in light of the biodiversity challenges facing all of Idaho’s native species.

The initial summary of public comments, provided to the IDFG Commission by consultant Anne Wescott, seemed to show that your input was well-represented. Many of the takeaways likely resemble comments you actually submitted:

Wildlife Diversity

• “Biodiversity focus, user ethics, funding fairness, inclusion of non-traditional users”; 

• “Incorporate non-consumptive users into planning and funding mechanisms”;

Funding

• “Expanding the current funding model to enable all people who enjoy wildlife to contribute” and “improving funding transparency”;

• “Concern about funding stability, adequacy, and the sustainability of existing revenue streams”;

Predators

• “A notable number of respondents advocated for science-based, humane management and coexistence strategies”;

• “Support for non-lethal tools and concerns over fairness and ethics in hunting practices” and “messaging around respect for wildlife”;

• “Some voiced strong opposition to trapping and predator hunting”;

• “Grizzlies, mountain lions, and coyotes frequently discussed, with opinions split between control and conservation”;

Legislature

• “Significant support for educating the public and legislature about IDFG’s fiscal needs and aligning expenditures with conservation priorities”;

• “Reinforcing IDFG’s public trust mission”;

• “Growing concern over legislative engagement in issues typically handled by the Commission”;

While many other takeaways from public input were also presented to IDFG Commissioners back in May, those listed above were promising. If these passages had made it into the draft version of the plan, ICL and wildlife advocates across Idaho would have had real cause for celebration.

However, after seeing the recently released draft, wildlife supporters might now be feeling like Charlie Brown after Lucy pulled the football away just seconds before his attempted kick.

If you squint VERY hard at the draft, you may be able to detect faint traces of your input—but it looks to have been disguised by wordsmiths using generic phrasing that leaves far too much room for interpretation. Even if IDFG intends to pursue the approaches you recommended, the plan’s lack of specific actions leaves many wildlife advocates with only vague assurances and not a lot of certainty about follow-through. Although there is an encouraging emphasis on habitat, disease, and invasive species, many new elements seem to mostly address concerns of hunters and anglers, such as predator control, overcrowding, and law enforcement.

IDFG’s draft strategic plan needs more work. Now you have the chance to tell them that. 

IDFG just opened a second and final public comment window on the plan. Between now and December 19, you have one last opportunity to tell IDFG that the future of Idaho’s wildlife shouldn’t be taken for granted. 

IDFG must hear from Idahoans that the recently released draft plan needs far more detail, and should include specific takeaway language presented to the Commission back in May. As written, the ambiguity of the plan will not stand the test of time as staff changes occur and politics continue to creep into agency decision-making processes. The strategic plan—known as “The Compass”—needs to be recalibrated to reflect wildlife values of all Idahoans. 

For instance, the draft plan doesn’t do enough to ease concerns of many Idahoans that feel shut out of IDFG’s funding system and the policies that come from it.

The agency uses income from licenses, tags and federal taxes on sporting equipment to manage a tiny fraction of species it’s charged with stewarding. Users that pay into the system naturally feel entitled to dictate priorities and be given the largest voice in the room. This perpetuates a cycle whereby the rest of Idahoans—those that don’t hunt, fish or trap animals—often feel like their input doesn’t translate much into wildlife policy, and that the wildlife they care about is being pushed aside. 

ICL is worried that the first draft of IDFG’s 10-year strategic plan doesn’t do enough to change that perception or look for new, creative ways to address funding challenges.

You can ask IDFG to make the following improvements to ensure the final strategic plan is as strong as it should be:

• IDFG needs to provide more detail in the draft and clarify language so that Idahoans can be confident that all fish and wildlife conservation values will be represented by the agency over the next 10 years.

• Many of the strategies listed in the draft plan need to be re-prioritized to reflect public input. Pressing challenges of biodiversity received tremendous attention. As written, the draft plan doesn’t reflect that. The critical work of IDFG’s Wildlife Diversity Program needs to be elevated. Additionally, predator management appears to be prioritized as “Job 1” during a time when conflicts are decreasing. This is the wrong message to send to everyday Idahoans that love all wildlife.

• Hope is not a strategy for the needs of Idaho’s non-game species. The urgency of funding challenges for IDFG’s non-game Wildlife Diversity Program haven’t been captured in this draft plan. The agency must convene all stakeholders to help find solutions to this critical part of IDFG’s mission. Wildlife advocates deserve to know how IDFG plans to sustainably support the Wildlife Diversity Program that goes largely unfunded by hunters and anglers.

• IDFG must begin taking immediate action after the plan is adopted. The Department claims that future wildlife management plans will be enhanced with new input received during the strategic planning process. However, many plans are only updated every six years. The Statewide Wildlife Action Plan—which drives restoration efforts for hundreds of imperiled species in Idaho—only gets updated every 10 years. Idahoans must know their comments will be put into action right away.

It's also important to let IDFG know about the things they did well:

• IDFG looks to have responded well to habitat concerns voiced by the vast majority of the public. Fragmentation, threatened migration routes, wildlife-vehicle collisions, and restoration of degraded landscapes are all issues that the agency was correct to emphasize as a high priority.

• It’s apparent that the agency is remaining vigilant against disease and invasive species. This includes being steadfast in ways to mute the potential ravages of Chronic Wasting Disease, transmitted between individual animals within Idaho’s wild herds of deer and elk and threatened by captive elk farms and high-fence hunting operations.

All Idahoans want to see the IDFG succeed. Wildlife advocates of all conservation values and interests should be pulling for a healthy, resilient wildlife management agency. We all benefit if IDFG’s programs and policies fulfill all parts of its mission and wildlife stewardship responsibilities.

The agency must show they intend to uphold promises made to all Idahoans. This starts by making additional improvements to their guiding strategic document—“The Compass”. It’s time to correct the course before IDFG’s direction gets set in stone.

Please use the next two weeks to send IDFG your comments on the draft plan by December 19.