Parks and Recreation budget includes possible woolly mammoth

The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation has made a budget request that includes a mammoth item.

The agency on Thursday told the Legislature's budget-setting Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that it wants to build a visitor center at Thousand Springs State Park that could include a life-sized woolly mammoth.

The agency is seeking approval to use $825,000 for the visitor center in southcentral Idaho that it would operate along with the National Parks Service, which has agreed to a 20-year lease at $50,000 annually.

The National Parks Service operates the nearby Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument.

Gov. Brad Little is also recommending $825,000 for the center in his budget.

Overall, Parks and Recreation is seeking a 2.7 percent increase in its budget of $44.3 million in fiscal year 2020, about $1.5 more than Little is recommending.

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