Local lawmaker wants to change how recreation on state-owned endowment lands is managed
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IDAHO FALLS — Rep. Jerald Raymond wants to help Idaho better manage its recreational opportunities on state land.
The Republican lawmaker representing District 31 — which encompasses Jefferson, Fremont, Clark and Lemhi counties — is introducing a bill this session that would change how recreational use of state-owned endowment lands is managed. His proposal is to transfer control of recreation on state lands from the Idaho Department of Lands to the Idaho Department of Recreation.
“The Idaho Department of Lands does so many things well … but they only have one person statewide to manage recreational opportunities on state lands,” Raymond tells EastIdahoNews.com. “IDPR can manage the recreation on IDL lands.”
The role of the Idaho Department of Lands, according to its website, is to “manage Idaho’s endowment assets to maximize long-term financial returns to the public schools and other trust beneficiaries” as outlined in Idaho’s Constitution. About 3.6 million acres of state land are reserved as endowment trust lands.
Its other role is to “provide professional assistance to the citizens of Idaho to use, protect and sustain their natural resources.”
The IDL generates income through the sale of land and timber. It also provides leases for grazing, farming, conservation, commercial buildings, recreational sites and mining. It receives earnings from invested funds, as well.
The use of Idaho’s state lands is an important issue to Raymond. He and his wife, Cheri, own a feedlot near Menan and have worked in the cattle industry for decades. They utilize state land for grazing.
Raymond helped pass the Rangeland Improvement Act in 2024. It established a rangeland improvement account and directed the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to seek funding to carry out a variety of grazing improvement projects.
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As a rancher, he’s aware of constituents who are interested in recreational opportunities on state lands. In the Island Park area, he points to Harriman State Park and Henrys Lake State Park as examples. Although the parks are managed by the IDPR, they have grazing land and recreational sites under IDL management.
“In between those two, we’ve got glamping sites that sit on IDL land,” Raymond says.
There are similar situations in state parks across the state, and Raymond wants to change that.
“If you’ve got a parcel of land that’s being used for grazing and there’s an interest in using that land for recreation, we don’t want to turn the whole acreage into a recreation site because we’d lose the traditional use. The idea is to carve out a corner of the land for camping (or other recreational activity) and let the traditional use continue,” he explains.
Raymond says having all recreation under IDPR management is a much more efficient way to do things.
“To bring all that under one umbrella for recreation — it’s just a better way to manage it, in my opinion,” he says.
Raymond hopes to have a draft of the bill ready by the end of the week. It’s hard to say where it will end up at this point, but Raymond anticipates it will be introduced through the Resources and Conservation Committee.
This is one of several bills during Idaho’s 2026 legislative session focusing on Idaho’s endowment trust lands.
Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, is proposing a constitutional amendment that would remove the requirement that state-owned endowment lands be managed for the maximum financial return for beneficiaries.
In a recent report from Idaho Capital Sun, Raybould says the current law puts pressure on the Idaho State Board of Land Commissioners to sell such lands. House Joint Resolution 8 prioritizes ongoing revenue generation through things like timber harvest, mining or grazing leases, followed by preserving public access for recreation, hunting, trapping and fishing.
Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, is proposing a different amendment to the Idaho Constitution that is designed to protect any new land acquired by Idaho from the federal government from being sold.