MISSOULA, Mont. — The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and its partners allocated $750,639 of grant funding to benefit wildlife habitat and hunting heritage projects in Idaho. RMEF contributed $202,550 and leveraged an additional $548,089 in partner dollars.

The grants fund nearly two dozen projects, positively impacting more than 17,000 acres of habitat across Adams, Blaine, Boise, Bonneville, Boundary, Caribou, Cassia, Clark, Clearwater, Fremont, Idaho, Latah, Lemhi, Owyhee, Shoshone, Teton and Washington Counties, including several of statewide benefit.

"This funding addresses a mix of projects that lie at the root of our mission of ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat and our hunting heritage," said Blake Henning, RMEF chief conservation officer. "Among them are efforts to enhance wildlife forage by removing encroaching conifers, applying prescribed burns, treating noxious weeds, rehabbing landscapes impacted by severe wildfires and removing old fencing and other debris that limit the movement of wildlife."

There are 18 chapters and nearly 8,800 RMEF members in Idaho.

"We thank and salute our volunteers. It’s because of their efforts that we have this funding to spruce up Idaho elk country," said Kyle Weaver, RMEF president and CEO.

Dating back to 1984, RMEF and its partners completed 641 conservation and hunting heritage outreach projects in Idaho with a combined value of more than $85.4 million. These projects protected or enhanced 592,324 acres of habitat and opened or improved public access to 28,895 acres.

Below is a sampling of Idaho’s 2021 projects, shown by county.

Adams County

·Conduct low intensity burns across 7,000 acres in the New Meadows Ranger District on the Payette National Forest to rejuvenate grasses, forbs and shrubs on elk, mule deer and other wildlife habitat. The project is part of a larger effort to treat upwards of 10,000 acres annually with prescribed fire to improve wildlife habitat and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire.

Caribou County

·Burn 1,695 acres in the Montpelier Ranger District on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest to maintain and regenerate and aspen stands. Crews will also construct two sets of fencing to benefit aspen – one to keep out livestock and the other to keep out both livestock and wildlife.

Cassia County

·Rehab 1,000 acres in the Minidoka Ranger District on the Sawtooth National Forest charred by the 2020 Badger Wildfire by planting 40,000 sagebrush and bitterbrush seedlings on elk winter range. (RMEF’s Torstenson Family Endowment provided partial funding for this project.)

Owyhee County

·Remove encroaching conifers across 3,031 acres on BLM Boise District Office lands. The multi-year BOSH project aims to treat up to 617,00 acres of sagebrush-steppe habitat that is vital for elk, sage-grouse, mule deer, pronghorn antelope and many other wildlife species.

Go here to view all of Idaho’s 2021 projects.

Project partners include the Caribou-Targhee, Idaho Panhandle, Nez Perce-Clearwater, Payette, Salmon-Challis and Sawtooth National Forests, Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and conservation, sportsmen, civic and other government organizations and individuals.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:

Founded more than 37 years ago, fueled by hunters and a membership of more than 231,000 strong, RMEF has conserved more than 8.2 million acres for elk and other wildlife. RMEF also works to open and improve public access, fund and advocate for science-based resource management, and ensure the future of America’s hunting heritage. Discover why "Hunting Is Conservation™" at rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.