Idaho Fish and Game explains why surveying is important

Idaho Fish and Game took the time to give people a behind the scenes look at what they do each day. Some of the areas they focused on included surveying fisheries and big game species.

“A lot of what we do is we do things aerially out of helicopters or we do things on snowmobiles,” said Jim White, regional supervisor for Idaho Fish and Game.

They use a variety of methods and tools when sampling different populations, including electrofishing and shooting nets out of helicopters. Fish and Game says it’s important to keep track of these species.

“When you go out and survey populations, you collect information on how healthy they are and how robust they are,” said Dan Garren, regional fisheries manager for Idaho Fish and Game. “And when you know how many animals there are that allows you to manage them better and to provide more opportunities for people to interact with those animals.”

They say that the better the scientific data they get on these resources, the better information they can provide for the public.

“Ultimately we work for the people of Idaho,” Garren said. “The resources that we work on belong to the people. And we want to share what it is that we’re doing out on those resources and how that benefits them. And just foster better understanding of the work that we do to benefit our hunters and our anglers and our outdoor enthusiasts.”

Fish and Game tracks a lot of data on wildlife in Idaho such as how many animals there are, where they are and their age.