Idaho Fish And Game Official Heads North After Years Of Bureaucratic Hassles As Both Commissioner And Outfitter, Norm Guth Is Leaving For Alaskan Paradise

With Idaho’s salmon runs played out and its wildlife managers under siege, Norm Guth is leaving for a sportsman’s paradise in Alaska.

The 56-year-old Salmon-area outfitter and Idaho Fish and Game Commission member says bureaucratic intrusion is making it increasingly difficult to make a living in the Idaho backcountry.

“Regulation in Idaho controls everything so we can’t grow or expand.”

So Guth and his two sons have purchased 160 acres near Lake Iliamna, about 50 miles from Anchorage. His first glimpse of nearby Cook Inlet delighted him after years of watching Idaho’s migratory fish runs decline.

“We didn’t see thousands of salmon, we saw millions of salmon,” Guth said.

The Guths will offer fishing on four streams choked with migrating salmon. When those adult spawners die their remains are eaten by zooplankton that in turn feed monster trout.

That kind of opportunity is all too rare in Idaho, despite efforts by a Fish and Game Commission created in 1938 to keep political meddling out of wildlife issues. But the last days of Guth’s 12 years on the panel have been spent defending its charter from often-bitter partisan challenges.

“Our responsibility is to protect, perpetuate and preserve the fish and wildlife resources of the state,” he said. “It doesn’t mean protecting logging, mining or other activities.”

His last commission meeting is in early March.

When he moves north, Guth will leave behind an outfitting tradition started by his father along the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in 1942. He took up the float trip and fishing business in 1953, and it was his rafts that carried President Jimmy Carter down the wild river in 1978.

Guth was appointed to the Fish and Game Commission by Gov. John Evans, then reappointed by Gov. Cecil Andrus. His district used to extend from the Nevada border to Salmon. And even when it was divided and the southern portion given to a new commissioner, Guth still was responsible for the sprawling country of Lemhi and Custer counties in central Idaho.

But wrangling over his remote lodge in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness has been a far larger frustration.

Environmentalists challenged a Forest Service decision to grant Guth a lease he exchanged for some mining claims to build the lodge. He said it was impossible to house clients in tents during the cold months they fish for steelhead on the main Salmon River.

The dispute continues, and the years of conflict have taken their toll.

“I had an immune system disease about five years ago,” Guth said. “The stress of the appeal may have triggered it.”

Guth said he will face no sales tax in Alaska, and his bill for licenses and permits will drop from upward of $30,000 to about $300.

He also will be away from complaints about the Fish and Game Commission, even though Guth praised new Republican Gov. Phil Batt’s decision to back away from a mid-January call for all six commissioners to submit resignations.

Batt had said he wanted to have the option of replacing the commissioners over complaints that they were running a renegade state agency out of touch with Idaho sportsmen. But he later apologized and started an effort to build a better working relationship with the Department of Fish and Game.

“In my book, it took a real big man to do what he did,” Guth said. “He has my respect and gratitude for what he did there. When I was just appointed, I had the same people land on me.”

He said every year some legislators and others push for the ouster of the commissioners and Fish and Game Director Jerry Conley over allegations that they cater to non-residents and exotic wildlife.

Guth said he would refuse to fire Conley, and that Fish and Game’s efforts to boost hunting and fishing opportunities are by and large a success story.

“With the exception of pheasants, everything is at the top of the curve,” he said.

Modern farming practices have been primarily to blame for the popular game bird’s dwindling population. Farmers are installing sprinklers and removing cover along fence rows.

“You can’t raise them on a pool table,” Guth said.

But while he will be well rid of the controversy, Guth said he will miss the chance being a commissioner gave him to share his love of wildlife.

“One of the most enjoyable things was working with the caliber of people in Fish and Game,” he said. “We never had any serious personality problems.”