Idaho committee sends memorial urging federal action on Camas National Wildlife Refuge, asks to expedite permit and consider state management

The Resources and Conservation Committee voted to send Senate Joint Memorial 104 to the House floor, a measure that asks federal partners to expedite a permit to clear the Camas Creek channel through Camas National Wildlife Refuge and to consider transferring management of the refuge to the State of Idaho.

Senator Van Burtonshaw, sponsor of the memorial and identified as representing District 31, told the committee that sediment and willows in the Camas Creek channel restrict flow into Mud Lake and force local water users to pump groundwater to meet irrigation needs. "This bill does 2 things," Burtonshaw said: it asks federal partners to speed an existing permitting process and it asks that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service consider turning the property over to the state so Idaho Fish and Game could manage it.

The memorial follows testimony and questions during a roughly two-hour committee discussion that included county water users, conservation groups and federal-lands advocates. Supporters argued the change would make permitting and local water management easier; opponents warned of legal and ecological risks.

Why it matters: committee members and witnesses framed the issue around competing uses of limited water…