Recently Governor Otter fired two Fish and Game commissioners from southern Idaho and then announced he would allow them to reapply for the positions from which they were fired. Commissioners Mark Doerr of the Magic Valley Region and Will Naillon of the Salmon Region will cease to be members of the Fish and Game Commission on July 1, when their initial terms as commissioners expire. Those commissioners were the sitting chairman and vice-chairman of the commission and represented the strong, informed and internally elected leadership of that commission. The commissioners were fired for standing up for the fish and wildlife resources of Idaho and Idaho’s hunters, anglers and trappers. 

In having done so, those two commissioners and their fellow commissioners, over time, stood up to the self-interest of a handful of southern Idaho politicians who are members of the Idaho Senate and House of Representatives. Those politicians had demanded a significant expansion of the Landowner Appreciation Permits (LAP Tags), including the pocketing of Lap Tag cash proceeds, increased use of auction tags and a yet-to-be-determined point system for controlled hunt tags which awards points to those who fail to draw in previous drawings for tags or one which could allow for the purchase of points to increase the odds of being drawn for a tag and its subsequent hunting opportunity. Most, if not all, of those politicians are either large landowners themselves or have constituents who are large landowners. The Department of Fish and Game awards more than two thousand LAP Tags annually which represents big money should landowners obtain the authority to sell those tags and pocket the prices paid for them.

The pressure created by those demands had been building up for several years with self-interest centered, attempted legislation, meetings between politicians and members of the commission and statements of threatening consequences directed at Governor Otter’s Fish and Game Commission. Throughout that period of mounting pressure the members of the Fish and Game Commission withstood the full force of political threats brought against them by those self-interest centered politicians. On May 5, a press release from the governor’s office stated that applications were being sought for the positions held by Commissioners Doerr and Naillon. Subsequently the governor’s office responded to frustrated and angry sportsmen who had expressed concern and dismay over the governor’s decision and resulting action by offering the following:

“Thank you for contacting me about the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

“The term of a Fish and Game commissioner is four years, and each commissioner serves at the pleasure of the Governor. The terms of commissioners Doerr and Naillon will expire on June 30, 2016. I have simply decided to open the application to anyone interested in serving on the Fish and Game Commission for those regions, including commissioners Doerr and Naillon.

“Thank you again for contacting me. Please keep me informed of your opinion about this and any other state government issues of concern to you.”

To date, that is the extent of the information surrounding this situation coming from the governor and his office. Does Governor Otter fully recognize the consequences of what his action has done to the sportsmen of Idaho, a constituency, that has by and large, stood by him? The situation begs the answers to some important questions which our governor must provide to Idaho’s hunters, anglers and trappers.

Governor Otter:

Do you agree with the demands of those self-interest driven Senate and House members?

Will you be instructing the Fish and Game Commission to comply with the self-interest demands of those Senate and House members?

Do you stand, personally, to benefit from the Fish and Game Commission’s approval or the Idaho Legislature’s passage of legislation supporting the self-interest demands of those Senate and House members?

Will you sign into law any legislation which supports the self-interest demands of those Senate and House members?

Come out from behind your desk and information-lacking staff announcements and give us the answers to the above questions which Idaho sportsmen deserve and then tell us why you chose the course of action you have taken.

The governor’s decision was not made by some rookie politician, it was made by our long serving governor, perhaps too long serving. It sure looks like Governor Otter will be leaving behind one heck of a mess at the end of his term in office, one that the next governor will have to fix. The abandonment of Idaho sportsmen needs to be turned around. The governor’s decision carries with it some potentially dim consequences for Idaho sportsmen. It could very likely lead to Idaho adopting the Utah or European system of pay to play for hunting and fishing accompanied by ever-escalating prices and more and more regulations and laws intended to enrich the folks who approve or make those regulations and laws. The Department of Fish and Game would then become a permanent official arm of a small group of large landowners and large agricultural entities.

This rather new and rapidly accelerating situation could eventually lead to its own demise. As average Idahoans and average Idaho sportsmen see what is really being engineered before their very eyes there certainly could be a dramatic change in the political balance we have experienced over the last 20 years of Idaho political history. Emerging political parties and reborn, existing political parties could mobilize the Idaho electorate to look for other solutions to the issues Idaho sportsmen presently find themselves confronting. Idaho sportsmen should unify, organize and elect legislators and governors who represent their values and cultural foundations and not the self-interest sought by a few. Time will tell. Governor Otter has lit the match and the fires of self-interest, personal greed and Statehouse fear and silence will likely burn longer than Idaho’s fires in the summer of 2015. So much for keeping the Department of Fish and Game and the Fish and Game Commission insulated from politics. So much for Idaho Code telling the citizens of Idaho that the fish and wildlife resources belong to them.

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Pete Thompson is a former Fish and Game Commissioner from Ponderay.

Ed Lindahl is a Sagle resident.