Summit Director Speaks Out In Program’s Favor

Idaho Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Mark Gamblin spoke out Wednesday night about the wildlife summit that Idaho Fish and Game will hold in September.

After a story that this station reported last week about a group of hunters claiming that the summit will change the mission statement of the agency, Gamblin said there has been a backlash of misunderstanding. He wanted to be absolutely clear on the message: Fish and Game’s mission is not changing.

It’s important to Gamblin because he is directing the summit.

“This is a very big job for the next eight months. This will be my primary responsibility until we’re done with the wildlife summit,” he said.

Those eight months of work make it even more important for him to be clear with the public.

“We simply want to reassure the Idaho public that the summit has nothing to do with changing our mission statement. Having a discussion with the people that we work for certainly doesn’t imply or suggest that we would want to or need to do that,” he said.

Gamblin said it has everything to do with serving the people who own Fish and Game — the taxpayers.

As for the fact that the agency was meeting with conservationist groups, Gamblin said, those groups are looking out for wildlife, and so are hunters. In fact, sustainability has been central to Fish and Game since the beginning.

“That’s always been and always will be one of our challenges. Sustainability is at the core of our responsibilities and of our mandate, to be sure that Idaho wildlife resources are managed, so that not only do we enjoy those benefits today, but our children and our grandchildren and future generations have the same opportunities that we have today,” he said.

And with wolves being listed and delisted and sage grouse habitats being restudied, Gamblin is preparing himself to deal with a host of hot button issues as the summit takes off.

“One of the challenges we’re going to have is to keep the discussion focused on the broad important issues that we have,” he said.

The summit is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 7 through Sept. 9, but that’s the beginning of archery season. Gamblin said he is hearing people’s complaints, and the agency is trying to work it out.

“Because we hunt, too. The Fish and Game department understands inherently why that is of great concern to hunters,” Gamblin said.

Fish and Game is also figuring out how to stream the conversation live so everyone can be a part of the conversation.

All of the efforts are a part of integrating people’s opinions even more into the agency’s actions, Gamblin said.