Gem State Wire

From November 9, 2022 post.

Today marks the 84th anniversary of Idaho's first successful voter initiative that established a Fish and Game Commission to oversee a fish and wildlife management department, that hired enforcement personnel and wildlife managers, and offered civil service protection for employees.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was first established in 1899 under the leadership of the governor-appointed state game warden, and as early as 1913, there were proposals to change the structure of the Fish and Game Department.

In 1938, using a 1912 amendment to the Idaho constitution that allowed voters to put a proposed law on the ballot and enact it by majority vote, an organized group of sportsmen worked to gather at least 21,000 certified signatures of registered voters needed to get the petition on that November ballot. On July 7, 1938, petitions were delivered with 24,000 signatures from around the state to then Secretary of State Ira H. Masters. Another 4,000 local signatures were delivered by the deadline.

On November 8, by an overwhelming majority, voters approved Idaho’s first successful people’s initiative that established the Fish and Game Commission. The initiative passed with 118,000 votes to 37,442 – 76 percent of the total votes cast. The results included a majority in every county. 

On December 10, Lt. Gov. Charles Gossett appointed Walter Fiscus of Potlatch, Bird Hawley of Melba, George Booth of Burley, Stanley Easton of Kellogg and Alton R. Howell of Idaho Falls as the first Idaho Fish and Game Commissioners.

After 84 years, the Commission continues to protect, preserve, perpetuate and manage Idaho's wildlife and provides hunting, trapping, and fishing opportunity.  Here are the commissioners who fulfill that role today. Learn more about the Commission and current members: https://idfg.idaho.gov/about/commission/members

Original source can be found here.