Guest Profile - Montana Wildlife Federation

2021 Legislature attacks on wildlife, habitat and public access

June 10, 2021 by Guest Profile

Hunters, anglers, and outdoor recreationists had the toughest legislative session in over two decades this year.

The 2021 Montana Legislature included numerous bills that worked to put into state law elk management, restrict public access to public lands, curtail land conservation efforts, and write special hunting seasons into law. It was the most difficult session in over two decades, and many bad bills passed.

Still, through hard work, we were able to beat back some of the worst bills. It took a broad coalition of sporting and outdoors advocates to kill these bills, through heavy engagement by hunters, anglers, and other outdoors enthusiasts.

The Montana Wildlife Federation is thankful to our members, volunteers, and conservation partners who all rallied to make their collective voice heard. It was especially important this session when public participation was far more limited because of the Covid 19 pandemic. Our Legislative Action Team was vital to getting the public engaged in the process, and we’re working to build on that effort.

We’re working to learn from this session, develop a proactive conservation agenda and we are asking the advocates we partnered with to continue with us as we engage the Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Gianforte Administration, as well as prepare for the 2023 Legislature. We must continue to develop our broad coalition of conservationists to advance positive policies that benefit our public wildlife, habitat, and access. Several of these bad bills are likely to come back, and we need to be prepared.

Here is the complete list of the dozens of bills that came forward this session, both good and bad.

MWF thanks Gov. Gianforte for veto of SB 306

May 19, 2021May 19, 2021 by Guest Profile

The Montana Wildlife Federation thanks Gov. Gianforte for vetoing SB 306, a bill that would have required that three of the seven Fish and Wildlife Commission members be landowners in agricultural production.

“This bill would have thrown off balance the management of our public trust fish and wildlife resources. Montana deserves broad representation for everyone who values these incredible resources,” said Tom Puchlerz, MWF board president. “Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks always consider landowners in every decision, but giving them such a large block on this commission without any designated seats for hunters and anglers was bad policy that would have changed longstanding Montana management to provide public sporting opportunities.”

SB 306, sponsored by Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, followed another bill that expanded the commission from five to seven members, with one from each of the seven FWP administrative regions. MWF supported HB 163 because we saw it as a way to provide better representation for all Montanans throughout the state.

But SB 306’s mandate that three of those are agricultural producers was problematic. Gov. Gianforte in his veto letter stated that many farmers and ranchers manage their operations through a Limited Liability Company, and therefore might not be considered a landowner who qualifies to serve under the bill. He also wrote that while he supported the intent, the bill’s language of four potential types of agricultural production could be interpreted to require that a landowner conduct all of them. That too would limit whom a governor could choose to serve on the body, he said.

MWF is always looking to work with our friends in the agricultural community to find solutions to the complex issues around fish and wildlife management and believes that every commissioner should consider all interests in making decisions.

Please consider sending the governor a thank you for vetoing this bad bill.

Photo by Kyle Moon.

Gov. Gianforte Signs Outfitter License Bill HB 637

May 14, 2021 by Guest Profile

Gov. Gianforte signed HB 637 today, a bill that was amended in the final days of the Legislative session to include unlimited outfitter-sponsored nonresident big game licenses for this year and permanently skews the preference point system.

This bill was so riddled with problems to begin with, and was put forward by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. It included spending $1 million on pheasant stocking, removing a 24-hour waiting period for black bear and mountain lions, and removing a required hound handler license for nonresident landowners.

But in the second to last day of the session, bill sponsor Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, brought an amendment requested by outfitters that completely changed the nature of the bill. It was clearly a special interest exerting influence over the allocation of nonresident licenses to benefit their businesses, a concept that had been rejected earlier in the session after strong opposition from public hunters. That came forward in SB 143, sponsored by Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, which had allocated 60 percent of all nonresident big game licenses as outfitter sponsored.

HB 637 wasn’t identical, but it still permanently gives hunters choosing to use the services of an outfitter a big leg up to draw coveted B-10 and B-11 combination licenses. This is counter to the notion that everyone should have an equal opportunity to hunt in Montana, and flies in the face of Montana voters who outlawed special treatment for wealthy, out-of-state tags.

Numerous sporting organizations spoke out against SB 143, with thousands of comments against it. But HB 637, with the last-minute changes, gave public hunters little opportunity to speak out. Hunters did flood the governor’s office requesting that he veto the bill.

We will now look at ways in the 2023 Legislature to rectify the changes to the preference point system that HB 637 instituted to restore equal opportunity for nonresident hunters.

Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful

May 6, 2021 by Guest Profile

Biden Administration’s ‘Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful’ will benefit Montana hunters and anglers.

On Thursday, the Biden Administration released a report, Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful, detailing a bold vision to conserve America’s lands and waters through locally-led conservation efforts. The concept has broad support from the sporting community such as Hunt Fish 30×30, a coalition of nearly 60 state and national sporting organizations. In response to today’s announcement, the Montana Wildlife Federation applauded the report and its emphasis on restoring valuable fish and wildlife habitat and mitigating the impacts of climate change.

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s bold plan to conserve and restore America’s lands and waters should be applauded by hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts alike. Along with confronting the impacts of climate change, it will help create jobs, catalyze collaborative, locally driven conservation efforts and will aid in the recovery of many fish and wildlife species that are currently at risk of extinction,” said Frank Szollosi, executive director for the Montana Wildlife Federation.

The report, which was released to the National Climate Task Force, outlines the Administration’s priorities in achieving the 30×30 initiative, a plan to conserve 30% of U.S. lands and waters over the next decade. Specifically, the principles of locally led conservation efforts in the report give significant recognition to the stewardship of America’s lands and waters by farmers, ranchers, tribal nations, hunters and anglers.

“Today’s report shows that the Administration is committed to understanding the needs of local communities to achieve conservation priorities, as well as bolstering our outdoor recreation economy and providing more access for hunters and anglers to enjoy our public lands and waters” said Szollosi.

Outfitter License Bill Creates Tags for Special Interests

May 5, 2021 by Guest Profile

Early in the 2021 Montana Legislature, the Senate Fish and Game committee heard from more than a thousand hunters who spoke strongly against a bill to create outfitter-sponsored nonresident big-game licenses. But after the initial effort to create these licenses failed, outfitters slipped a similar measure into a bill at the last minute in a terrible display of swamp-style politics.

SB 143, sponsored by Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, would have designated 60 percent of all the big game combination licenses for nonresidents as outfitter sponsored tags. The bill failed as proposed.

Montanans said they support equal chance to draw a license for – including nonresidents who want to come here on a do-it-yourself hunt. But just as important, Montana hunters and non-residents alike were opposed because SB 143 had not been discussed with anyone other than outfitting interests.

Fast forward about two months, to the final days of the session, and the same thing happened with HB 637, which FWP dubbed its clean-up bill for the session. Special interests had inserted in the bill an amendment that gives unlimited outfitters sponsored licenses this year. And permanently gives nonresident hunters using an outfitter an extra preference point for the coveted combination licenses.

Montana hunters offered a solution of simply moving up the drawing date, so outfitters would know whom to market their services to. HB 637 is the worst example of a special interest exerting influence over the allocation of our public wildlife. It’s swamp-style politics at its worst.

MWF joined many of our affiliates and conservation partners requesting the governor veto this bad bill. You can read the letter here.