Idaho Adventure News

Like any organization, IOGA’s well being and effectiveness heavily depends on the quality and the willingness of its leadership. IOGA continues to benefit from those folks who step forward from the ranks to fill leadership positions. In fact, quality leadership is essential. I would encourage every member to consider stepping up and throwing your “hat in the ring” for any vacant positions. There is an opportunity annually at our winter conference for future leaders to appear on the ballot and become involved at a greater level. The “nuts and bolts” of this process are included elsewhere in th...

Upwards of 90% of Idaho’s special use permitted outfitters operate on lands managed by USFS and BLM. Critical ingredients regarding the future of outfitting on these public lands is currently the focus of H.R. 5204, the Modernization of the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act. We need more letters to Congress supporting this legislation as votes on popvox.com are running 6 to 1 against the bill. H.R. 5204 reauthorizes the Forest Service, USFWS and BLM permitting authority for five years, limits permit fees to 3% of gross or an equivalent flat fee and provides for greater accountabil...

Executive Director’s Report by John May IOGA Members, As you can see with the amount of information coming out of the IOGA office, the staff has hit the ground running in 2015. The need to send this month’s Government Affairs report as a separate FYI lets you know that the Legislature is back in session and that Grant Simonds, our Government Affairs Liaison, along with our Lobbyists, Jeremy Pisca and Tyler Mallard, are focused on monitoring anything that might effect our industry. Speaking of the legislature, preparation is well underway for our bi-annual Lobby Day event on February 18th her...

IOGA Members, Well needless to say, August was a very busy as well as stressful month for many of Idaho’s outfitters. This month’s update will be focused on two items, the wildfire season and our 2015 Idaho Travel Council Marketing Grant request. First and foremost I would like to extend a huge “Thank You” to Joe O’Neill who is the BLM Outdoor Recreation Planner out of the Cottonwood Field Office.  As you are aware, Idaho has been struck with some nasty fires in the last couple of months which have been devastating to Idaho communities and the folks who live and work in those areas.  The Big...

IOGA Members, I hope all of you are having a great summer season and that your businesses are doing well. As always we continue to be busy here at the IOGA. We are right around the corner from this year’s Idaho Travel Council Grant Awards (August 11th). We are hopeful that with the support of our ITC Representatives that we will be able to continue to step up the promotion and marketing of our outfitting industry locally, regionally and even internationally. So, if you happen to run into your regional Rep make sure to ask them to fully support the IOGA. Through our new working relationship ...

November has proven to be very busy around the IOGA office. A lot of prep time is occurring to get ready for next months annual meeting. Janey, Grant and myself are trying to put together a great program that is not only informational but hopefully a little fun. We have been able to secure many new items for our live and silent auction, as well as possible interest from some of these supporters in becoming new Business Associate Members. This is an area of growth that should be a slam-dunk for us to improve. IF every outfitter in our current membership asked just 1 business that they work with...

Happy 2014 IOGA Members, Now that the Holiday season is over we are all back in the office working on many of the projects that were outlined at our annual meeting. Speaking of the annual meeting, I want to take a moment and thank all of the volunteers who helped the staff during the event. Especially the following, Gary Brookshire, Barbara Judge, Barb Billington, Dee Crane, Lynn Demerse, Karlee May, Brooke Oswald, Autumn Haney, Lora Haney, LeaAnne Haney and Gregg Simonds. Without these folks and many others it would be very tough for the staff to pull off such a successful event. We had ver...

BOISE, Idaho -- (March 6, 2014) -- Idaho mountain snowpack levels and anticipated streamflows in the popular Salmon, Snake, Lochsa and Payette river basins are ranging from 90-120 percent of normal, which should provide for a stellar, fun-filled whitewater river season in the summer of 2014, officials said Thursday. "Our bookings are very strong this year and we feel lucky to have such a fabulous snowpack, especially compared to much of the West," said Peter Grubb, owner of ROW Adventures in Coeur d'Alene. "Folks planning to raft in Idaho this season shouldn't wait much longer before signin...

Spring is finally breaking around Idaho and we are gearing up for a great season in 2014. With above average snow pack in most areas we should have plenty of water and hopefully a light fire season.  We operate at the put-in to the Selway at Paradise and the river is up.  There is a lot of wood coming down from all the fires last year.  Please be extra careful on those first runs. At our recent Board of Directors meeting in Salmon, the board set several key objectives for IOGA this year including Membership & Fundraising, Access and Trails, Improved Relations with Agency Partners and the 60th...

As I mentioned last month, during the April Board of Directors meeting in Salmon, the board set several key objectives for IOGA this year including Membership & Fundraising, Access and Trails, Improved Relations with Agency Partners and the 60th Anniversary of IOGA.The second objective I want to write about is membership and fundraising. Membership and fundraising continue to be our main objectives for the organization.  We recruited a lot of new members and had a number of old friends rejoin the organization over the past year.  With all the turnover in the business, we need to continue to r...

“A river changes people, even if they’re not looking to change,” says Bill “Bronco” Bruchak. He should know, having guided on rivers since 1978, including 80 commercial trips down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River through the protected Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness, in central Idaho. “White water makes you let go of all of the other worlds and take the time to be absorbed by pristine wilderness.” Getting Started: The Middle Fork is a free-flowing river that tumbles for a hundred miles of wilderness, promising plenty of frothy excitement from the headwaters an hour outside Stan...

As I mentioned previously, the board set several key objectives for IOGA this year including Membership & Fundraising, Access and Trails, Improved Relations with Agency Partners and the 60th Anniversary of IOGA. This month the subject is Access and Trails. Access and Trails continue to be a major problem for the land base outfits.  Last year this was a key objective and will continue to be one this year.  We made progress last year working with the Back Country Horseman of Idaho and other groups when we got a Joint Memorandum passed by the Idaho Legislature to the Forest Service.  There was a ...