Mule Deer Winter Range Land Purchase

Whether it is through Idaho Chapter projects or activities of the
Safari Club International, SCI is making a huge impact in Idaho for
the future of hunting, right here in your backyard where you hunt.

Check out this perfect coming together of the strong suits of many different

organizations and government entities for the common good.

Lane Clezie, Safari Club International Vice President, a Pocatello, Idaho sportsman, began working on a project to
save the critical deer winter range north of Soda Springs more than 2 years ago.  With support from  representatives
of Soda Springs, Caribou County, Idaho Fish & Game, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe, and the BLM, a plan was put
together.  The plan: to buy critical winter range with a “no net gain of federal land” in Idaho from willing sellers,
vulnerable acreage that would likely been lost to developers in the near future.

Clezie approached Senators Craig and Crapo and Representative Simpson for their support.  They responded with
enthusiasm and, in the end a bill signed by President Bush authorized $900,000 specifically for the purchase of the
Soda Hills winter range as an add-on to the BLM budget.

 All of this took time.  While the team had completed most of their work, two isolated parcels of land were in jeopardy
and were going to be sold immediately.  The federal funds allocated for the purchases were not yet available from
Washington, DC.  That is where the Southeast Idaho Mule Deer Foundation went to work.  They provided the funds to
purchase outright the two parcels. The federal appropriations monies will reimburse the generous contribution made
available by the SEIMDF as soon as it becomes available.  If the SEIMDF had not acted immediately, these critical
parcels smack in the middle of the range would have fallen into private ownership, or worse, to developers.  Remember
there are already more than 50 lots platted in the adjacent area, with some already built upon, that carve off the
western and southern edge of the Soda Hills.

Last May, the accomplishments of the team of citizens, agencies, and elected officials, all brought together by the vision
of Clezie, came to fruition.  Representatives of the participating agencies, state and local government officials and
Senator Larry Craig all met in the heart of the Soda Hills to celebrate the dedication of the properties being
purchased by the $900,000 appropriation.

 This eleventh hour reprieve for the future of the mule deer that migrate from as far as 20 miles in all directions
converge in the Soda Hills where they come by the thousands each winter was a  tremendous success

 There is already talk about other special places that must be protected from the bulldozer if we are to have our big game
herds 50 years from now.