New Year, Fresh Fish

Idaho's cutthroat trout license plate gets a new look just in time for the New Year. The new plates will be available at the Idaho Department of Motor Vehicles beginning Monday, January 4. The updated design will please anglers with its realistic depiction of Idaho's state fish. "People enjoy seeing new plates, so I'm sure when the trout plate comes out it will catch a lot of people's attention," said Jeff Gould, Fish and Game wildlife chief. "I think it says you're a fisherman!" Proceeds from the purchase of wildlife plates support Idaho's nongame program. These are the species that are not hunted or fished, such as peregrine falcons, bluebirds, frogs and wolverines. This critical plate program provides a majority of the nongame budget, helping fund many nongame and watchable wildlife projects and activities throughout Idaho. However, over the past two years, the sale of wildlife plates has dropped, drastically affecting this budget. "We receive license dollars for game species, but for nongame species we don't spend sportsmen's dollars to protect their habitat or manage the species," Gould said. The nongame program gets $25 from the purchase of a bluebird plate, and $15 from each annual renewal of plates. The elk and trout plates bring in slightly less as other programs are also supported by these plates.