Idaho’s Biggest Landowners are Familiar Names

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Remember the Wilks brothers?  A few years ago Don and Farris Wilks were viewed by many Idahoans as a threat.  The Texans owned a lot of land in the state.  Then they ended up selling large tracts, and they never became the top landowners.

Seriously, the biggest landowner in Idaho could pose an even bigger threat.  The federal government, as locals know, owns almost two-thirds of the property.  This link details the size of federal holdings.  Can you imagine how our state’s economy would boom if we limited the deep state to just one-third of the land?  I even hear some conservatives tell me we need a distant government dictating land policy because the rest of us would despoil the deserts, forests, and mountains without Bib Brother’s presence.  People already despoil the land.  Have you been out to a property managed by the Bureau of Land Management where people go target shooting?  Your local Sheriff’s Office could do a better job keeping things clean.

The second biggest land owner is the Holding family.  The family’s 400,000 acres pale in comparison to what the federal government manages.

Number three is Frank VanderSloot, a self-made businessman.  His property would be considered a decent-sized ranch in much of the West.  I’m only 110,000 acres behind Mr. VanderSloot and I’m not dead yet, so I figure I’m one or two bright ideas from making the list.

The great Will Rogers recommended land as an investment.  “Buy land,” he said.  “They ain’t making any more of the stuff.”