News - Montana Wildlife Federation

We Can Protect Private Property Rights and Public Land Access

August 2, 2021July 25, 2017 by Guest Profile

Nick Gevock with antelope taken on block management — MWF Conservation Director Nick Gevock took this nice antelope buck on a Block Management Area in southwestern Montana that opened up thousands of acres of private and public land to public hunting.

Two core values that Montanans share make our state great: a deep respect for private property rights as well as a dedication to public land. Defending both of these values is essential to our way of life.

Montana is blessed with 28 million acres of public land that supports hunting, hiking, camping, and countless other outdoor pursuits. However, the majority of Montana’s land is in private ownership. Unlike some Western states that are a majority public land, and Eastern states that are all private, Montana enjoys a mix. This balance of public and private land is crucial to our outdoor traditions and our farming and ranching heritage. Generations of Montanans have hunted both private and public lands. Our livestock industry, and the communities that depend on it, also rely on public and private land. Montanans deeply respect private property and at the same time are dedicated to protecting public access to public land.

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, more than 60 percent of Montanans hunt on private land. It is in everyone’s interest to provide incentives and financial support for landowners who wish to allow access to their land. This provides opportunity for hunters, and it benefits landowners by controlling the damage that elk, deer and other game cause to crops and fences.

In fact, Montana has a suite of solid programs for private landowners who want to allow public access. The Block Management program provides cash compensation to hundreds of landowners for hunter access. The Unlocking State Lands program gives a tax credit for access across private land to landlocked state parcels. Numerous locally-based collaborative efforts such as the Devil’s Kitchen Working Group near Cascade bring landowners and hunters together to forge access agreements for private land.

Last legislative session, the Montana Wildlife Federation worked with other sportsmen’s and agricultural groups to increase compensation to landowners in Block Management and renew the Unlocking State Lands program. MWF and other groups are also working together to forge better relations between landowners and hunters to open up more private lands to hunting.

Even as we work to support private landowners who provide access to their land, we also must maintain a strong defense of public access to public land. This includes protecting legally recognized public roads and trails and defending access to public streams.

It’s unfortunate that there are people who want to limit the ability of Montanans to access our public lands, often so they can profit personally from that access. Because private property rights are such an important Montana value, people sometimes claim them as their excuse for blocking access to public land. It’s a distraction. Illegally blocking legal access to public property is not the same as deciding what happens on your private property. It’s an affront to legitimate property rights, and it’s unfair to all Montanans to play private property rights against public land access.

Montanans need leaders who will support private property rights and public access rights. This means continuing to provide incentives and support for private landowners to expand access to their land. It also means standing up for public land managers who defend public access, and not just talking the talk about access. The current controversy surrounding public access in the Crazy Mountains illustrates how important it is that we support and defend the professional employees who are working to protect public access and private property.

Working together, and being honest about private property rights and public land access, is the best way to protect our Montana values and outdoor heritage.

Nick Gevock is the conservation director for the Montana Wildlife Federation.

MWF 2017 Legislative Voting Record

August 2, 2021July 13, 2017 by Guest Profile

MWF 2017 Voting Record_Page_1 — MWF 2017 Voting Record

The Montana Wildlife Federation 2017 Legislative Voting Record is a compilation of how state legislators voted on key issues during the 2017 Legislative Session. It is meant to provide information for the public on where legislators stand on issues that affect wildlife, habitat and public access. Votes were identified by a committee of MWF volunteers to provide a spectrum of high profile issues. Data were compiled by MWF staff from official Montana Legislative records.

This report uses the vote on a given bill that is most reflective of a legislator’s stance on the issue. MWF has compiled a Legislative Voting Record at the conclusion of each Legislative Session for more than 20 years. This report is produced for nonpartisan informational purposes so that MWF members can understand how lawmakers voted on issues of concern. Support for or opposition to any given bill or resolution is not intended to provide an endorsement or rejection of any state legislator.

MWF 2017 Voting Record

MWF depends on your support to defend wildlife, habitat, and public access at the Capitol. Make a donation today!

Easements Benefit Agriculture and Wildlife

August 2, 2021July 11, 2017 by Guest Profile

Mule Deer on Montana Ranch CC by Scott Akerman — Conservation easements mean more access. Mule deer by Scott Akerman.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission recently gave the go ahead for the state to pursue three large-scale conservation easements in the eastern part of the state that will open up tremendous hunting opportunity.

Taken together, the Ponessa Ranch, DeCock Ranch and Horse Creek Complex easements will permanently protect more than 39,000 acres of private ranch and crop land. It’s an incredible conservation achievement that will benefit wildlife, keep traditional farms and ranches in operation and provide more hunting opportunity. And the reach of these easements extends well beyond the deeded acres that will be protected.

That’s because these lands adjoin in several cases state and federal lands, as well as other private land that is open to the public for hunting under the state’s popular Block Management program. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle that, once fully finished, helps maintain our Montana outdoors heritage, rural agricultural economy and ultimately our way of life.

Take the DeCock Ranch near Hysham. It borders the Isaac Homestead Wildlife Management Area. But it also adjoins state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation lands that are open the public, and private lands that are enrolled in Block Management. Taken together, this block would be more than 250,000 acres of contiguous land open to the public hunter.

It’s an example of an incredible public-private partnership. It’s also one that is often the case with easement projects that use Habitat Montana program funds. Habitat Montana uses a small portion of hunting license fees to pay for conservation easements as well as targeted land purchases to protect important wildlife habitat and grow public access. That includes access to adjoining public and private lands that builds up public hunting opportunity.

The other two easements, Horse Creek Complex near Wibaux and Ponessa near Miles City, are also large-scale land protection projects. Both would help working agricultural operations while opening up hunting access to private lands. And these type of arrangements are good for hunter-landowner relations, because they illustrate that we have far more in common than we do differences when it comes to protecting our way of life.

Habitat Montana came under fire in the 2015 Legislature, when its use for land purchases was restricted. While big land buys get a lot of attention, the three easements proposed this month show that the conservation easements funded by Habitat Montana are just as important for wildlife, habitat, hunters, landowners and all Montanans.

Nick Gevock is MWF’s Conservation Director. You can reach him at ngevock@mtwf.org.

MWF, anglers push for new fishing access site on the Bitterroot River in Stevensville

August 2, 2021July 11, 2017 by Marcus Strange

Alec Underwood gives testimony at Stevensville town council.

It’s been nearly a month since the landowner of one of the most popular fishing access sites on the Bitterroot River locked out the general public from launching their boats there. This unfortunate situation was a result of an ongoing failed land swap negotiation in which the town would have to trade up to eight and a half acres of its park land to secure the access site. While some in the fishing community were ready to take the deal, many Stevensville locals spoke out against what they saw as an unfair trade.

Despite the land swap debate putting the fishing community and park-goers in a tough spot, a push by Stevensville Mayor Jim Crews to find a temporary access site on the town’s property became a new hope for restoring access.

MWF was quick to respond and after meeting with Crews at the proposed new site, Western Field Representative Alec Underwood garnered widespread support from Montana’s fly fishing community to find a new access site. Within three days, over 70 anglers, guides, outfitters, and business owners from around the state had signed on to a letter in support for finding a timely resolution.

Underwood submitted the letter to the town council during a meeting on Monday night where the council would decide whether or not to move forward with trying to develop an access site. Along with reading the letter aloud, Underwood emphasized the importance of finding a solution sooner than later.

“Many people in the fishing community understand that looking toward a different solution is not only the right thing to do, it will solve the issue more quickly than revisiting land swap negotiations. Now is the time to act on these alternatives that will work for all citizens,” Underwood said.

Several members of the public referenced the importance of the site as an economic driver for the town of Stevensville while speaking out against revisiting a land swap deal and in favor of moving toward other solutions. With the strong testimony, a motion by a town council member to put the land swap to a town vote in November died. In contrast, the decision to allow Crews to open a temporary access site on the town’s property was unanimously approved.

Pending the permit approval for site construction, Crews says that he may be able to have the access site constructed within two to three days and with little manipulation. While this will temporarily solve the access issue, FWP will also be assessing the viability of a permanent site on the west side of the river. MWF sees this decision as a step in the right direction for the town of Stevensville and for all those who fish the Bitterroot River.

The decision by the town would not have been possible without the support from the fly fishing community. We thank the many anglers, outfitters, guides, and shop owners who signed on in support of solving this issue and restoring access to the Bitterroot River in Stevensville.

Alec Underwood is Montana Wildlife Federation’s Western Field Representative. You can reach him at alec@mtwf.org

Make It Count for the Missouri Breaks

August 2, 2021July 10, 2017 by Marcus Strange

Upper Missouri Breaks NM - CC License - Bob Wick — Upper Missouri Breaks NM – CC License – Bob Wick

With some of the best public land wildlife habitat in Montana, the Missouri Breaks is an essential part of our hunting heritage.

For the last 17 years, the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument has protected this land for future generations to hunt, float, and camp, while also preserving working ranches and other public land uses.

Unfortunately, the Interior Department has decided to reopen the books and investigate the Breaks, along with other national monuments around the country, with an eye toward reducing the size of the monument and rolling back its protection.

Two years of local effort went into protecting the Breaks, but they want to undo it with barely two months of public input.

Visit the link below to leave your comments on the national monument review. And do these three things to make sure your comments get the formal record:

1. Make it personal. The federal beancounters will do everything they can to ignore comments that they think are mass-produced. Make your comments specifically about the Missouri Breaks and why you value this land, so they know you are a real person who cares about a real place.

2. Provide specific examples of how reducing the size of the monument or limiting public access will impact your use of your public lands. The more specific you can be, the better.

3. Say why you are qualified to comment. This doesn’t have to mean that you have a professional or academic credential – it is just as important to have personal experience hunting, floating, or camping in the Breaks. Just make sure you specifically say that, so they know your voice matters.

Comment on the Breaks

Jeff Lukas

Conservation Director