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Idaho state symbols

Idaho has 20 official state symbols. The oldest is the state seal of 1891, designed by Emma Edwards Green; the newest is hunting, which became the official state sport in 2026. Most of Idaho's symbols come from its mountains, rivers and farms, from the star garnet to the potato.

20 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

The 1931 trio

Idaho’s first statutory symbols arrived together. In 1931 the legislature adopted the mountain bluebird as the state bird, the syringa as the state flower and “Here We Have Idaho” as the state song. The syringa was already a de facto emblem: it appears at the woman’s feet on the state seal, designed forty years earlier. The western white pine followed in 1935, at the request of a women’s pioneer group, the Ellen Wright Camp of the Daughters of Pioneers.

Gems and fossils

The star garnet became the official “state stone, or state gem” in 1967. These dark purple-red garnets show a star, usually with four rays and occasionally with six, caused by tiny needles of the mineral rutile inside them. They are found almost only in Idaho and India, and the public can dig for them at a Forest Service site near St. Maries. In 2022 Idaho also adopted an official gem cut, the Idaho Cut, a faceting design created in 1977 by the national faceting champion Quincy Douglas Howell.

The state fossil is the Hagerman horse, a Pliocene horse that lived about 3.7 million years ago, known from hundreds of skeletons found near Hagerman in south-central Idaho. In 2023 the legislature added a state dinosaur, Oryctodromeus, Idaho’s most commonly found dinosaur: a small plant-eater that dug burrows, found in 98-million-year-old rocks in eastern Idaho. The law even forbids the state from using eminent domain to take an Oryctodromeus fossil or the land where one is found.

Horses, trout and salamanders

The Appaloosa, the spotted horse bred by the Nez Perce people, became the state horse in 1975. Settlers called it the “Palouse horse,” after the region, and the name became “Appaloosa.” The Appaloosa Horse Club moved its headquarters to Moscow, Idaho, in 1947.

The cutthroat trout, named for the red slash under its jaw, became the state fish in 1990. Its statement of intent called it the fish that best represents all of Idaho’s waters and a barometer of environmental quality. In 2015 the Idaho giant salamander, the largest salamander in the state at about 13 inches, became the state amphibian; it lives almost entirely within Idaho.

A square dance and a sport

The state’s centennial legislature of 1989 named the square dance Idaho’s “American folk dance.” In 2026 Idaho adopted hunting as its official state sport, citing the rights to hunt, fish and trap written into the Idaho Constitution. News reports credit the idea to a nine-year-old student from Twin Falls, who joined Governor Brad Little at a ceremonial signing.

The main symbols

The flag, the mountain bluebird and the syringa each have their own page.

2 1890s 1 1910s 4 1930s 1950s 1 1 1970s 2 2 1990s 3 1 2010s 3 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 1930s, with four.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Culture and history

Questions about Idaho's symbols

What is the Idaho state animal?
Idaho has no state mammal. Its official animals include the Appaloosa (state horse), the mountain bluebird (state bird), the peregrine falcon (state raptor), the cutthroat trout (state fish) and the Idaho giant salamander (state amphibian).
What is Idaho's state gem?
The star garnet, adopted in 1967. Star garnets are found almost only in Idaho and India.
What is the Idaho state dinosaur?
Oryctodromeus, a small burrowing plant-eater found in 98-million-year-old rocks in eastern Idaho, adopted in 2023.
Is the potato Idaho's state vegetable?
Yes, since 2002. The huckleberry has been the state fruit since 2000.
Photo credits (6)

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