Access Pilot Project Cancelled

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission, during its July 19 meeting in Salmon, agreed to cancel the three-year Access Yes! Pilot Project in the Magic Valley Region after the first year. Magic Valley Region Commissioner Wayne Wright, M.D., cited limited interest by landowners in exchanging hunter access to private land for alternative compensation, such as non-transferable big game tags, pledges of help with habitat projects, and enforcement, as the reason for the recommendation. Commissioners cited the need to focus Idaho Department of Fish and Game staff members on higher priority programs, such as finding new funding sources and developing a statewide mule deer management plan, as reasons for their decision to scuttle the program. Earlier this year, Fish and Game, with commission approval, transferred 151 landowner appreciation program tags to the Access Yes! Pilot Project in the Magic Valley Region. A total of 11 pilot project tags were allocated to landowners in exchange for access agreements, four of which were highly sought-after tags for antlered deer and elk in Unit 45. Commissioners also agreed to return unallocated pilot project tags for Unit 45 to the landowner appreciation program. Wright told the commission that in his opinion "the department would be better off looking for alternative sources of money to buy permanent access across private lands to public land." "It's time to regroup," Wright said. "The hope was to use LAP tags to benefit both landowner and sportsmen, but that hasn't worked." Hunters and anglers accept the idea of buying access through the proceeds of the Super Hunt tag lottery system. They don't accept the department acquiring access in exchange for giving transferable tags to landowners, Wright said. "Valuable lessons were learned during the one-year trial program that may have implications for the existing Access Yes! and Landowner Appreciation Programs," Commissioner Randy Budge of the Southeast Region said. Existing Access Yes! Pilot Project contracts that trade big game tags, habitat projects, and enforcement for hunter and angler access will be honored by the department through 2007.