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‘Beyond my dreams’: Fish and Game names former Idaho fisheries chief as new director

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Tuesday announced its pick for a new Department of Fish and Game director, a former fisheries bureau chief who has served as a deputy director since 2021.

Jim Fredericks is a longtime Idahoan who has spent his entire career with the agency, officials said in a news release. He will take over as director on Feb. 19 when the current director, Ed Schriever, retires. Schriever announced his plans for retirement in late 2022.

Fredericks grew up in Moscow and earned his bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in fishery resources from the University of Idaho. He began working at Idaho Fish and Game in 1994 as a fisheries research biologist.

Since then, he has served as a regional fisheries manager and became head of the agency’s fisheries bureau in 2015. In 2021, he was named Fish and Game’s deputy director tasked with overseeing operations.

“I would say this is a dream come true, but this is beyond my dreams,” Fredericks said in the news release. “My dream was to work for Fish and Game, and I am humbled to be named director.”

Fredericks will oversee more than 500 full-time employees and manage Fish and Game’s $150 million annual budget.