O-SenseThe Idaho Department of Fish and Game is often in the spotlight.
As the entity that regulates fishing and hunting, and issues licenses, the department impacts the recreation of hundreds of thousand of Idahoans, that is not surprising.
But, in this very snowy winter in southern Idaho, the attention has turned to the department’s effort to feed wildlife.
Last week, Chad Cripe of the Idaho Statesman reported that Idaho Fish and Game expects to spend $650,000 this winter to feed big game animals, significantly more than the previous high of $387,000 spent in 2008 (though records are not available from before 2003).
Cripe quoted the department’s deputy director of operations as stating: “Across the southern tier of the state, we are experiencing a winter that we haven’t experienced in about 20 years.”
Much of the focus has been the Tex Creek Wildlife Management area which is located roughly 15 miles east of Idaho Falls on the hills that run between the Idaho Falls area and the Wyoming border. While including mountains, much of the area consists of canyons and rolling farm and ranch ground (of note, in those same hills, mostly to the south a bit, is the area where we find dinosaur remains in Idaho).
This area was ravaged by the massive 50,000-acre plus Henry Creek Fire last year which burned the hills around Tex Creek but had a scattered impact in the canyon portion. A bill is on the way to the governor to appropriate about $400,000 for feeding wildlife in the Tex Creek area.
Tex Creek itself consists of relatively well-watered canyon ground and the much dryer hills around. In the winter, the area attracts, according to Gregg Losinski, Regional Conservation Educator for Upper Snake Region for the Fish and Game department, 3,000-4,000 elk, roughly an equivalent number of deer, and some moose.
When I spoke to him about a week ago, he had recently visited the area and reported that, surprising to me, it only had 12 to 14 inches of snow, far less than the massive snow accumulations in the Idaho Falls area in the past month. He shared some interesting points about the purpose of the feeding operation.
For instance, I thought the reason for winter feeding was because the elk and other animals were starving. Losinski corrected me on that and said that in the Tex Creek area the elk were actually in good shape and that, generally, if they start the winter that way, they don’t need feeding to survive. He also noted that the deer have mainly stayed out of Tex Creek this winter.
Rather than to prevent starvation, the primary reason for feeding is to keep the animals from getting into trouble. Idaho Fish and Game’s thesis is that if the animals don’t have feed, they don’t stay in one place. They wander and they get into trouble.
From Tex Creek, going north is State Highway 26. To the immediate west are numerous farms, ranches and cattle-feeding operations. A bit further west is Ammon and Idaho Falls. If the Tex Creek elk get into the agriculture areas, they will strip the hay fields, potentially infect livestock, and eat cattle feed for which they are unsuited.
When they get into residential neighborhoods, they are also at risk. Late last week, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported that eight elk were found dead in a subdivision in Ammon. The cause of death is believed to be, according to a Fish and Game veterinarian, poisoning from eating Japanese yew shrubs planted by property owners.
Idaho Fish and Game knew they had a potential problem after the Henry Creek Fire at Tex Creek. Last fall they stockpiled nearly 2,000 tons of hay in the Tex Creek area, which is systematically being broken up for the elk.
It is important to point out that in such a harsh year, it is inevitable that some big game wildlife will die anyway. But, some would also be lost in a mild year. That is part of the natural life cycle of these animals.
This year’s Idaho Fish and Game’s efforts should be measured not by the fact that animals die on the range but by the conflicts that don’t happen – the animals that don’t wander onto a highway or don’t ravage a farmer’s haystacks or don’t die in an urban setting from eating landscaping.
Steve Taggart is an Idaho Falls attorney specializing in bankruptcy (www.MaynesTaggart.com). He has an extensive background in politics and public policy. He can be reached atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
