75th Celebration: Volunteering for Wildlife

When people in Idaho say they care about wildlife, they mean it. In 2013 over 4000 people donated over 60,000 hours to statewide projects, which is equivalent to nearly 1.5 million dollars donated to wildlife conservation. These Idahoans' can-do energy is channeled through Idaho Fish and Game's Volunteer program, which officially began in 1990 in the Southwest Region and quickly spread to all areas of the state. Over the years these volunteers have gone by the name of Reservists, Instructors, Citizen Scientists, Master Naturalists, River Menders and simply Fish and Game volunteers. Spring is a particularly busy time of year. Starting in March, your friends and neighbors pitch in to plant sagebrush and bitterbrush to restore wildlife habitat. They scramble up hillsides hauling seedlings to plant in holes they just dug in the rocky soil. In Southwest Idaho alone, volunteers have planted nearly three quarters of a million bitterbrush and sagebrush seedlings to restore native habitats in the past 24 years. Other times of the year, volunteers help spawn fish, haul frozen beaver carcasses, monitor carnivore bait stations, work check stations, construct bird boxes and slug traps and teach hunter education. For more information of volunteering for Idaho's wildlife and other 75th Anniversary Celebration stories, visit the Fish and Game website at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/75th.