News Conference Set on Upcoming Wildlife Summit

Idaho Fish and Game has scheduled a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 5, at Fish and Game headquarters in Boise, about an upcoming Idaho Wildlife Summit. A toll-free number will be available for out-of-town reporters. Fish and Game officials will be on hand to answer questions about the summit. Idaho Fish and Game hopes to convene Idahoans interested in wildlife conservation at the event in August. Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore, who will speak at the event, emphasized that this summit is neither a referendum nor a vote on any policy or program. It is only the first step, the foundation for the discussion that will continue to define wildlife management in Idaho. Summit speakers include Jim Posewitz of Montana, founder of Orion The Hunter's Institute; Shane Mahoney, a prominent spokesman for wildlife conservation issues, from Newfoundland in eastern Canada; and Toni Hardesty, former director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and now state director for The Nature Conservancy in Idaho. The speakers will set up the issues facing the future of wildlife management in Idaho and of finding broader support for Fish and Game obligations not directly related to hunting and fishing. Participants will have opportunities to talk with each other and the with Fish and Game officials. The way wildlife is managed in Idaho today was established through a 1938 citizens' initiative, which was led primarily by hunters and anglers. Since then, Idaho's human population has tripled - from 525,000 in 1940 to almost 1.6 million in 2010. Society's values about wildlife, and their needs, expectations and interests in managing their wildlife are changing as well. Idaho Fish and Game operations and funding have remained essentially unchanged over time. Wildlife is managed in trust for the citizens of Idaho, yet hunters and anglers pay nearly the entire bill. As a result, Idaho Fish and Game finds itself struggling to address new and emerging wildlife conservation issues while retaining core hunting and fishing programs. The Idaho Wildlife Summit will start Friday afternoon, continuing Saturday and ended Sunday noon, August 24 through 26, at the Riverside Hotel on Fairview Avenue in Boise. The facility can hold about 500 people. Satellite events will be elsewhere in the state at six locations around the state. People also may follow the event online. For information go online to http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/summit/.