The Henry’s Fork Wildlife Alliance (HFWA) is a group of people committed to protecting healthy wildlife populations in the Upper Henry’s Fork. We love the outdoors. We hunt, we fish and many of us simply like to watch wildlife. We are residents and taxpayers of Island Park and Fremont County. We volunteer our time, support our local businesses and charities and are your neighbors. Like you, we care deeply about Island Park.
One of the many things that make our community unique is the abundance of wildlife and an array of recreational opportunities – from world class hunting and fishing to snowmobiling and off-road riding. As our community grows and traffic to Yellowstone National Park increases, we are likely to see Island Park change as well. As community members who care deeply about our wildlife and the natural surroundings that are both their home and ours, we want to ensure that the wildlife we enjoy today in Island Park remain healthy and abundant for the next hundred years and for future generations.
In the summer of 2019 we formed the Henry’s Fork Wildlife Alliance to provide a local, unified voice for wildlife. We are a grassroots, all-volunteer organization governed by a volunteer board of directors - all local residents and homeowners. As an all-volunteer organization, we became an affiliate of the Idaho Wildlife Federation (IWF) because we share similar values and goals. The Idaho Wildlife Federation is “dedicated to promoting the conservation and protection of our natural resources, wildlife, and wildlife habitat for future and current generations.” We are proud to be an affiliate organization of IWF - one of 27 other Idaho affiliate organizations representing 45,000 members in Idaho.
Wildlife watchers and hunters share a long history of conservation. One of our nation’s most ardent hunters and conservationists, President Teddy Roosevelt, said, “The excellent people who protest against all hunting, and consider sportsmen as enemies of wildlife, are ignorant of the fact that in reality the genuine sportsman is by all odds the most important factor in keeping the larger and more valuable wild creatures from total extermination.” In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states, “Hunters are among the most ardent conservationists around.” As hunters and wildlife watchers, we understand that to conserve healthy wildlife populations requires protecting their habitat and requires wise, science-based decisions about wildlife management.
We can all agree that Yellowstone’s wildlife is uniquely special. And we are some of the lucky few to live in Island Park, one of the most special places in Greater Yellowstone for wildlife. We hope you will join us in sharing our love and commitment to ensuring our local wildlife populations will be healthy and robust for generations to come.
Photo by Josh Metten
