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Now is the time to speak up for clean water!

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Though we are now in the middle of hunting season and many sportsmen and sportswomen have headed to the mountains for big game, the month of October to many anglers is an opportunity to have some amazing fishing. In addition to some great dry fly fishing, pre-spawn fish are often aggressive and for those anglers who like to fish with large streamers, there is no better time of year to get on the water to search for large, aggressive trout. Fall is a great time to seek large brown trout as they prepare to spawn, and rainbows as well as cutthroats are also very aggressive and will actively chase streamers.

While on the water this fall, it is important to remember why Montana’s rivers are amongst the greatest trout fisheries in the world; clean water. Without the high-quality habitat and clean headwater streams that feed our larger rivers, Montana would not have these robust wild trout populations. That’s why it’s more important now, more than ever, to stand up for clean water.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently seeking to repeal the 2015 Clean Water Rule which created protections for intermittent streams and wetlands across the United States. These waters account for approximately 60% of streams in the country, and without the protections, would be at risk of being polluted or degraded. For trout, these headwater streams are important in sustaining trout populations across the state.

Apart from our fish, the streams and wetlands that also provide clean drinking water to Montana communities and wildlife. It is time to speak up for Montana’s clean water and for fish and wildlife. Please send your comments to the Environmental Protection Agency and tell them not to repeal the Clean Water Rule.  It takes only a few minutes to submit your comments!

– Alec Underwood is MWF’s Western Montana Field Representative

MWF Statement on Leaked National Monuments Plan

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Two people look out over the Upper Missouri Breaks NM. - CC License - Bob Wick
Two people look out over the Upper Missouri Breaks NM. – CC License – Bob Wick

A leaked plan by the federal government to remove protections on some national monuments is being criticized by Montana sportsmen as a top down distraction that takes power away from local community planning and sets dangerous new precedent for other protected monuments in the west.

The report, uncovered by the Washington Post on Sunday, shows the U.S. Department of Interior has recommended redrawing boundaries and altering the management of at least ten national monuments across the country.

In response to the report, the president of Montana Wildlife Federation, Bill Geer, called the entire process a distraction from local community planning.

“Instead of trying to redraw national monuments from the top down, we should be working with local communities to develop smart management plans.  We know that approach works, because it is what we’ve done here in Montana at the Missouri Breaks.  This entire review process and now these recommendations have just been a needless distraction from the real work of working together to protect public access, wildlife habitat, and multiple use public land management.”

While the report doesn’t propose eliminating any national monuments in Montana, Dave Chadwick, Executive Director of MWF, said it sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ that calls into question the future of other protected areas across the West.

“While we are glad to see the Interior Department recognize the importance of hunting and fishing on national monuments, this plan includes many recommendations that are at best unnecessary.  Top-down edicts to shut down some national monuments set a dangerous precedent that will forever leave our Breaks and other national monuments vulnerable to the political winds in Washington.  This plan ultimately imperils the public access to public land that is so important to hunters and anglers,”  Chadwick said.

The Montana Wildlife Federation is specifically concerned these recommendations create an atmosphere where future administrations could continue to attempt to shrink public lands or manage them from the top down.  If the Department of Interior can roll back monument protections in Bears Ears National Monument, nothing prevents future administration from undertaking the same to other places, including the Missouri River Breaks.

Prior to today’s recommendations the Department of the Interior received 2.8 million public comments. Independent analysis has found more than 99 percent of the electronic comments received express support for protecting monuments and maintaining them at their current sizes.

In August, the Montana Wildlife Federation joined eight other other western state wildlife federations and the National Wildlife Federation in calling on Secretary Zinke to uphold the protection of wildlife and habitat by recommending no changes to any national monuments.

The Montana Wildlife Federation also produced a response to a new a new hunting and fishing plan proposed last week by the Department of Interior.

Interior Department’s New Hunting and Fishing Plan is an Improvement

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Upper Missouri Breaks NM - CC License - Bob Wick (2)
Upper Missouri Breaks NM – CC License – Bob Wick

The Montana Wildlife Federation commends Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s announcement of a new plan to support hunting and fishing on public lands.

Today’s order specifically recognizes the importance of national monuments for hunters and anglers, and calls for more community planning at the local level.  National monuments like the Missouri Breaks protect public land access and wildlife habitat, providing some of the best places to hunt and fish in the West.  The approach announced today is much more constructive than the top-down “review” of national monuments that the Interior Department has been conducting for the last several months.  We hope the department will follow through on the emphasis on smart local planning instead of pursuing top-down directives to redraw national monument boundaries and turn public lands over to oil drilling and mining.

We also shouldn’t forget that really protecting hunting and fishing on public land depends on adequate funding and staffing for land management agencies.  Just this week, the House of Representatives passed an Interior Appropriations bill that partially restores  the deep funding cuts proposed by the Trump Administration for every federal land management agency.  If our leaders truly want to protect hunting, angling, and public access to public lands, they need to provide adequate funding and staffing for the men and women who are working on the front lines.

MWF to honor Rep. Tom Jacobson for conservation, access leadership

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Tom Jacobson

The Montana Wildlife Federation has long honored our champions in the Montana Legislature, and no one is more deserving from his work in the 2017 session than Rep. Tom Jacobson, D-Great Falls. Tom was a champion on issues relating to wildlife, our public lands and opportunity for public hunters and anglers in 2017. He was always willing to speak to our issues and was very effective at pushing pro-public hunter and angler bills.  He also held the line against bad legislation.  Through it all, he maintained effective relationships with both Republicans and Democrats, earning respect in the halls of the Capitol and back home in Great Falls.

Join us in recoginzing Rep. Jacobson’s leadership on Monday, Sept. 18 at the Mighty Mo Brewing Company in Great Falls to honor Tom Jacobson with a conservation award.  The gathering starts at 5 p.m. with the award presented at 6 p.m.   RSVP Here.

Wildlife Federations Call for Protection of National Monuments

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Two people look out over the Upper Missouri Breaks NM. - CC License - Bob Wick
Two people look out over the Upper Missouri Breaks NM. – CC License – Bob Wick

Nine state wildlife federation organizations from across the West along with the National Wildlife Federation sent a letter today to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke urging him to conclude his Department’s review of national monuments and recommend no changes to any of the monuments under scrutiny.

In their letter, the Montana Wildlife Federation, Wyoming Wildlife Federation, Colorado Wildlife Federation, Idaho Wildlife Federation, Nevada Wildlife Federation, New Mexico Wildlife Federation, Association of Northwest Steelheaders (Oregon)  Conservation Northwest (Washington), Planning & Conservation League (California), and National Wildlife Federation noted the important role that national monuments play in protecting wildlife, habitat, and public access to public land.

“As you know, the protection of wildlife habitat has been one of the essential uses of the Antiquities Act for more than a century, from Theodore Roosevelt’s designation of the 600,000 acre Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909 in order to protect habitat for the Roosevelt elk. Since that time, monuments have been designated specifically to protect large habitat areas across the West, in both rural areas and adjacent to fast-growing urban centers, with widespread local support,” the letter noted.

“We urge you to bring this review to an expeditious close and consistently uphold the principle that wildlife and habitat are objects of historic and scientific interest that merit the application of the Act. The prudent, patriotic, and scientifically sound action is to uphold Antiquities Act and declare that all monuments will remain as they were legally designated.”

The Interior Secretary  is expected to announce the results of the Department’s review on August 24.

Jeff Lukas – MWF Elk Campaign Manager

Jeff Lukas

Conservation Director

Jeff Lukas is a passionate conservationist who has been fishing and hunting his entire life. Whether it’s floating a small stream chasing trout, pursuing elk in the high country, or waiting in a blind for ducks to set their wings, Jeff is always trying to bring more people afield to show them what we are trying to protect. He loves being in the arena, and he will never shy away from conversations about the beautiful and unique corners of Big Sky country.