Ask the Conservation Officer (CO)

by Gary Hompland, Regional Conservation Officer A group of folks recently attending a public meeting here at the regional office began reminiscing about some of the history of Magic Valley and the history of the Fish and Game. Topics ranged from the feats of Grover Davis; a legendary game warden in the area, raising pheasants at the game farm, to bounties paid for magpies. As a result of the discussion, one of the participants located a brochure produced by Lorayne O. Smith with the assistance of Les Hazen, Don Zuck, and Larry Drexler. The brochure entitled "Southern Idaho Fish and Game Association: History, contained numerous stories and photographs about the history and the role of the Association in fish and wildlife management in the area. In the following weeks I will include some excerpts from this fascinating history about the conservation movement in the Magic Valley. Local sportsmen owe a huge debt of gratitude to the many heroes of this group who successfully cultivated a conservation conscience in the Magic Valley. "The Southern Idaho Fish and Game Association has done many things over its 75-year plus existence to aid sportsmen, but its history really begins with a pioneer Twin Falls jeweler who single-handedly started the fish hatchery in Rock Creek canyon, now owned and operated by the College of Southern Idaho." Walter Priebe, who died at the age of 106 in 1987, was widely known as the "grand old man" of conservation in southern Idaho. Arriving in Twin Falls in 1908, when the town was in its infancy, his concern for game conservation was aroused in 1909 when he and a hunting companion found three sacks of old, decomposed sage hens on the Salmon Butte, about 10 miles south of Twin Falls. In a Times-News story in 1958 Priebe said, "We were so mad we came home and the next day gave out word up and down Main Street we were calling a meeting to organize a sportsman's club." Never one to go half way, he advertised the meeting strategically placing the smelly sacks in front of the Chamber of Commerce office, then upstairs next to the Twin Falls Bank and Trust building (now Wells Fargo). The fish hatchery in Rock Creek canyon was for many years a major project of the Southern Idaho Fish and Game Association. Walter Priebe started the hatchery to care for fingerling trout he began raising in a washtub more than 80 years ago. The facility was leased to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for several years, then to the College of Southern Idaho, which, since 1977 has operated an aquaculture education program. In 1991 the hatchery was officially named the Walter Priebe Hatchery and ownership was transferred to the College of Southern Idaho. At the conclusion of this series I will provide a contact information to obtain one of these incredible brochures. If you have any further questions you may call the Magic Valley Regional Office of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at (208)324-4350 or e-mail us at the Fish and Game web site at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.