Current News Coverage
HJR10 was on the right track (Editorial)
Coeur d'Alene Press, 2-27-26
Idahoans don’t agree on everything, but when it comes to public lands, the consensus is we want them protected.
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch said it well in a recent exchange with Bureau of Land Management nominee Stevan Pearce. In decades of public service, Risch said, no issue has generated a more unified, passionate response from Idahoans than the threat of public land sales. Idahoans “do not want their public lands sold. Period. Full stop.”
...
The proposed constitutional amendment would have shifted the priority for state endowment lands away from maximizing long‑term financial return to generating ongoing revenue and ensuring public access. It elevated recreation, which is something Idaho families, outfitters, small businesses, and rural communities rely on, while limiting incentives for the Land Board to sell land to the highest bidder.
In other words, HJR10 would have walled off Idaho’s public lands from the possibility of liquidation.
...
Those who fear the state won’t maximize long-term revenue should ask this: "What is the true value of Idaho’s public lands?"
Idaho can protect its trust beneficiaries, such as schools, while also protecting public access. HJR10 attempted to strike that balance. Idahoans know what Sen. Risch knows: our public lands are not just scenery or resources. They are part of us.
Most Idahoans believe those lands should stay in public hands. HJR10 was an attempt to ensure our state constitution reflects what Idahoans believe.
Lawmakers should listen.
Read the Coeur d'Alene Press editorial
Idaho firefighters sent to Texas as 'extreme' wildfire danger emerges following unseasonable temps
KIVI, 2-26-26
DALHART, Texas — Wildland firefighters from Idaho were recently deployed to North Texas to offer support as "current conditions in Texas are primed for extreme fire behavior," reports the Idaho Department of Lands.
31 firefighters and 9 engines are prepositioned in Dalhart, where the wildfire risk is currently rated 9/10 by the Texas A&M Forest Service.
The crews were briefed in Amarillo upon arrival before taking their positions.
Read KIVI article
‘The system is working’: Endowment lands proposal stalls in committee
Valley Lookout, 2-25-26
A proposal aimed at giving state land managers more flexibility in managing endowment lands failed to pass a committee hearing this week in the Idaho House of Representatives.
A gridlocked House State Affairs Committee split 7-7 on a vote to move the proposal ahead, leaving the measure a single vote shy of advancing for a hearing on the House floor.
The proposal by Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, would have softened the financial mandate under which the state is required to manage endowment lands, of which thousands of acres surround Payette Lake.
...
Miller said that could make the public a “de facto beneficiary” with competing interests to the public school system, the endowment’s main beneficiary.
“There could be conflict and potentially legal challenges, which could potentially limit our ability to produce that income and decrease our eventual return to the endowment beneficiaries, and thus increase the tax liability on Idaho,” he said.
Viki Purdy, a New Meadows resident who chairs the Adams County Commission, said Raybould’s proposal would transition state lands to a federal management style that would result in less logging, more wildfires, and higher management costs.
Read Valley Lookout article
Idaho’s endowment lands exist to serve public schools | Opinion
Idaho Statesman, 2-24-26
By Jerry Evans, Lawrence Wasden, Ben Ysursa, Jim Jones and J.D. Williams
When U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah began calling for the sale of public lands in the western states last year, it raised a firestorm amongst westerners across the political spectrum. And, rightly so. Westerners don’t particularly love the federal agencies that manage those lands, but they like even less the idea of turning them over to private interests that will fence them off and exclude hunters, fishermen and others from accessing what westerners regard as their sacred heritage.
Some in Idaho’s Congressional delegation briefly flirted with Lee’s idea, but backed off quickly when they saw the rising outrage from Idahoans. Even Idaho’s attorney general, who had earlier supported a federal lawsuit to force the turnover of federal lands to the states, went silent on the issue.
The public land issue has resurfaced in a somewhat different format during the current Idaho legislative session. Several legislators want to set constitutional requirements for how any future federal land grants to Idaho should be managed. While it may not seem to be an unreasonable question to address, it is pointless. Practically every senator from a public land state has been frightened away from the idea of privatizing or transferring public lands to the states. But even if a transfer should happen, history tells us that the feds will direct the state how to utilize and manage any land transferred.
Read Idaho Statesman article
Some Idaho representatives are calling out members of the House Business Committee
KMVT, 2-24-26
A proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would have changed how Idaho manages state lands failed to advance out of a legislative committee Monday morning at the Idaho State Capitol, potentially killing the proposal for the year.
If adopted, House Joint Resolution 10, would remove the requirement in the Idaho Constitution that state endowment lands be managed for the maximum financial returns for beneficiaries, reports the Idaho Capital Sun.
In place of the requirements to manage state lands for maximum financial returns, House Joint Resolution 10 would prioritize first ongoing revenue generation through timber harvest, grazing or mining, followed by preserving and promoting public access to recreate, hunt, fish and trap on the land.
Read KMVT articleRead KMVT article
Committee considers topics of public lands, gay marriage and data centers in Monday meeting
KTVB, 2-24-26
BOISE, Idaho — This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
House State Affairs made several decisions on new and pending legislation Monday, voting to introduce a resolution on gay marriage, opting not to advance a call for a public lands amendment and advancing a bill that codifies new restrictions on data centers arriving in the state.
...
Public lands amendment fails in tie vote
The committee also held a public hearing for a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution regarding the management of state endowment lands. Under current language, state endowment lands are required to be managed to “secure the long term financial return” to its beneficiaries, the majority of which are public education institutions.
The proposal from Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, seeks to shift away from this framework by giving revenue-generating activities first priority, followed by preserving and promoting public access for recreation. It further states advancing either of these aims is to be prioritized over the sale or exchange of state land.
...
Dustin Miller, director of the Idaho Department of Lands, said his agency has yet to take a position on the proposal, but questioned “what we are trying to fix” as the operation of endowment lands continues to allow for hunting, fishing and other forms of recreation under the current arrangement.
...
Raybould’s proposal failed after a split 7-7 vote, as a majority is required to advance resolutions and other proposed legislation.
Proposed amendment seeking to change management of Idaho state lands fails to advance
Idaho Capital Sun, 2-23-26
A proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would have changed how Idaho manages state lands failed to advance out of a legislative committee Monday morning at the Idaho State Capitol, potentially killing the proposal for the year.
If adopted, House Joint Resolution 10, would remove the requirement in the Idaho Constitution that state endowment lands be managed for the maximum financial returns for beneficiaries.
In place of the requirements to manage state lands for maximum financial returns, House Joint Resolution 10 would prioritize first ongoing revenue generation through timber harvest, grazing or mining, followed by preserving and promoting public access to recreate, hunt, fish and trap on the land.
Rep. Britt Raybould, the Rexburg Republican who sponsored the resolution, said removing the requirement to manage endowment lands for maximum financial return would reduce pressure on the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners to sell such lands.
Read Idaho Capital Sun article
199-foot cell tower near Redfish Lake approaches reality. Can building begin soon?
Idaho Statesman, 2-22-26
A nearly 200-foot-tall cellular phone tower is closer than ever to installation near one of Idaho’s most popular outdoor recreation sites, even as opponents say the project should be paused pending a federal decision on a possible environmental review.
AT&T, which plans to build the 199-foot cell tower on state-managed land near Redfish Lake, signed a lease with the Idaho Department of Lands in 2021 but has not begun building the proposed tower.
The telecom company signed a memorandum of agreement more than two years ago in early February 2024 accepting stipulations to mitigate the “adverse effects” of its project, which the document says “will introduce an incompatible visual element within view” of the historic Redfish Lake Lodge Complex. The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, which regulates telecommunications, only signed the memorandum in December 2025.
Read Idaho Statesman article
|
