Federal, State Entities Expand Hunting in Idaho While Protecting the Public

An elk herd congregates near an Idaho National Laboratory Site (INL) facility. Both elk and pronghorn antelope have used the INL Site as a sanctuary during the day while feeding on nearby private agricultural fields at night.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) has worked with the state of Idaho and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on an agreement that strikes a balance between public safety and wildlife management on the 890-square-mile Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site.

The two federal entities and state have agreed to expand an existing hunting boundary at the INL Site following a request from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to address concerns that elk and pronghorn antelope have been grazing on private fields adjacent to the INL Site. The agreed-upon hunting expansion includes public access to an additional 79.8 square miles of the INL Site.

“This was a good example of several entities coming together to address an ongoing problem,” said Chris Vilord, Environmental Restoration Technical Support manager for EM contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition. “We have a unique situation where these animals use the site as a sanctuary during the day while feeding in adjacent fields at night. This hunting boundary expansion is designed to upset that trend, using the long-established management tool of public hunting integrated within the environmental regulatory framework to ensure protectiveness of the hunters accessing the INL Site.”

Although the hunting boundary expansion area has never been known to contain any unexploded ordnance from the site’s past mission as the Naval Proving Grounds, those selected for these depredation hunts are required to complete an online unexploded ordnance awareness training course developed by the U.S. Department of Defense and to report any suspicious items. Click here for more information about the training course.

In advance of expanding the hunting boundary, EM’s Idaho Cleanup Project briefed the nearby Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and received input from the tribal council. EM regularly meets with the council and engages in government-to-government consultation on large-scale cleanup projects or issues that affect the historical lands of the tribes.

-Contributor: Erik Simpson