Jim Fredericks

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission has chosen Jim Fredericks to be its next director.

The longtime Idaho Fish and Game employee and deputy director on Feb. 19 will succeed Ed Schriever, who is retiring.

“We are both proud and privileged to have Jim Fredericks as our next director,” Commission Chairman Tim Murphy said in a release. “He has had a successful career with Fish and Game, and we look forward to working with him in the future to manage Idaho’s valuable wildlife.”

The director is the sole employee of the seven-member commission. The director carries out wildlife management policies set by the commission, runs day-to-day operations of the state Department of Fish and Game and co-chairs the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control board with the director of the state Department of Agriculture.

Fredericks, 58, was raised in Moscow. He attended the University of Idaho, earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in fishery resources.

He started his career with Fish and Game in 1994 as a fisheries research biologist before moving up through the ranks as a regional fisheries biologist and regional fisheries manager in the Upper Snake River and Panhandle regions. He was promoted to fisheries bureau chief at the Boise headquarters in 2015 and was named the department’s deputy director in 2021.

Fredericks in recent years has given public presentations about salmon and steelhead populations in the state.

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

Schreiver is retiring after 39 years, including serving as director since January 2019.