Wildlife Conservation and Management

Twelve-year-old Topher Jones of Boise, also known as the “Sock Guy for Sockeye”, was among 25 winners of the 2020 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which annually honors outstanding young leaders who have made a significant and positive difference to people and the environment. 

Idaho Fish and Game Wildlife Research Manager Mark Hurley was a recent guest on the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's Beaver State Podcast where he discussed mule deer nutrition, predation, and climate.

Over the last several years biologists with Fish and Game have been applying consistent deterrents to local big game herds in an effort to keep them from damaging crops on private property. In some locations across the Magic Valley Region these deterrents, which include non-lethal and lethal actions, are resulting in reduced levels of crop damage.

On Friday, September 4, 2020 Fish and Game received a report of an aggressive cow moose that bluff charged a family in the Adams Gulch area north of Ketchum on Friday, September 4. A family of three with a baby in a stroller and two leashed dogs was hiking along the creek when a cow moose charged the family.

During their meeting on July 23, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission awarded $100,000 in funding to various organizations throughout the state through the Idaho Fish and Game Commission Community Challenge Grant program.

Fish and Game Wildlife Biologists took to the air in late July to capture pronghorn antelope as part of a statewide effort to improve the understanding of pronghorn migration routes and habitat use. In all, 106 pronghorn were outfitted with GPS tracking collars across 27 Game Management Units. Thirty one of those collars were placed on pronghorn in the Upper Snake Region.

Blaine County Emergency Communications received a report in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 23, 2020 of a reported attack on a horse in the Red Elephant Gulch region of Croy Creek, west of Hailey, Idaho. Fish and Game officers investigated the report on Sunday morning, and with assistance from the U.S.