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Capitol Wildlife Report: Bills Moving Forward

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Fish and wildlife bills that have moved out of one chamber of the Montana Legislature on to the other kept advancing last week. There were few new bills, but this week several committee hearings were held on measures that were already moving forward.

Montana FWP budget

The main budget bill for operations at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks passed out of the full House last week. HB 2 contains the operations budget and while it has a few issues that will need amendments in the Senate, the bill is largely intact. That’s good for the day in, day out operations at FWP including fish and wildlife management.

State parks administration

Among them was HB 324, a bill that would allow the state Parks Board to choose its director while keeping the parks department under Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks administratively. The Montana Wildlife Federation opposes this bill because it would further divide the agency. The bill has passed the House and was heard last week in the Senate Fish and Game committee.

Block Management increase

HB 97 to bump up the cap on what a landowner can receive for participating in the Block Management program has passed the House and was heard this week in the Senate Fish and Game committee. MWF strongly supports this bill, which came out of the Private Land/Public Wildlife Council, and was joined with representatives of agriculture groups in support.

Habitat improvements bill

HB 434 has been passed by the House and is moving to the Senate. This bill would allow funding for habitat enhancement projects that are approved by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, and has broad support.

Shooting range diversion, domestic foxes

A pair of bad bills died this week. HB 151, which required a certain amount for shooting ranges and would have jeopardized $20 million in federal firearm and ammunition taxes for Montana FWP, was tabled in the House Appropriations committee. This problematic bill keeps coming back, and every shooting range that applied last year received a grant. In addition, HB 157 to allow domestic foxes died.

Big week for Habitat Montana

This week is a big one for our most important habitat and access program, Habitat Montana. It is included in HB 5, the state capital improvements budget, and will be heard in the House Appropriations committee. MWF has worked with numerous partners in the conservation community to build support for this program and will be working to drive turnout to show support for Habitat Montana.

As always, check the Montana Wildlife Federation bill tracker at montanawildlife.org for the most up-to-date information on bills and where they’re at in the process. For questions, contact MWF Conservation Director Nick Gevock at ngevock@mtwf.org or by calling 458-0227 ext. 108.

A Sportsmen’s Paradise: Help Keep It That Way!

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Hunters and anglers: Now is your chance to get involved, make a difference and influence how a significant portion of your public lands are managed and help protect our hunting and fishing heritage.

The Helena and Lewis and Clark National Forest is currently accepting public comments regarding their recently released draft Forest Plan revisions which will guide recreation, grazing, logging, vegetation treatment and other activities in the 2.8-million-acre forest for the next 15 years.

This land is a sportsmen’s paradise with some of the best public hunting and fishing opportunities in the world. Your comments can help keep it that way. Please send in comments before March 31.

Go to our action page on the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest

The draft plan achieves a good, reasonable balance in it’s multiple-use mandate by protecting and enhancing critical watersheds for threatened bull trout and west slope cutthroat trout; protecting critical habitat for elk, deer, bighorn sheep, bears and mountain goats as well as threatened and endangered species; maintaining and improving recreational opportunities; allowing for sustainable and responsible logging, grazing, mining, energy development and other important activities in appropriate areas, and supporting and boosting related economic needs and benefits of local communities.

While we support responsible, sustainable economic development, we want to ensure that our world-class hunting and fishing opportunities are sustained by protecting and restoring critical watersheds; maintaining and enhancing fair and equitable public access, and protecting unfragmented migratory corridors, summer range, winter range and other habitat that is critical for healthy big-game populations.

An abundance of wildlife research shows the importance of protecting big-game hiding cover and security in maintain healthy, balanced elk and deer herds and related hunting opportunities on public lands. In other words: big-game needs big, intact habitat. Research also shows that without large, secure, intact habitat on public lands, elk and deer are more likely to move to private lands where public access and hunting opportunity is limited or non-existent.

Therefore, we support the recommendation within the draft forest plan to designate nine critical areas – a total of 281,235 acres – as wilderness. In addition, we would like to see the 29,168 acres in the Camas Creek area of the Big Belts recommended for wilderness designation. These wilderness recommendations help strike a good, reasonable balance to the draft Forest Plan and will protect critical watersheds, wildlife corridors, wildlife habitat and help maintain critical connectivity for an abundance and diversity of wildlife – as well as help protect and enhance backcountry hunting opportunities.

The draft Forest Plan also identifies 159 watersheds that are “at risk,” 34 watersheds that are “impaired,” and 103 watersheds that are “properly functioning.” We urge the Forest Service to prioritize the protection of the properly functioning watersheds and restoration of the watersheds at risk by prohibiting new roads in riparian areas and not allowing any management activities that that could result in the downgrading of watersheds.

Go to our action page on the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest

Take Action: Protect Big Game Habitat and Hunting Opportunity

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At A Glance

Our Work

MT LWCF Sign On letter to Senators

Montana Land and Water Conservation Fund Support Letter
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Our Work

Lewistown Resource Management Plan

With the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument at its heart and surrounded by intact backcountry including the headwaters of the Judith River, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Lewistown District oversees some of the greatest public wildlife habitat in the world, and with it, one of America’s strongest hunting heritages.
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Our Work

Let’s Put An End To Bucket Biology

Montana has some of the best native and wild fisheries in the world. Unfortunately, our fisheries are threatened when people illegally introduce unwanted fish species into our rivers, streams and lakes. As Montana anglers, we support stricter regulations, increased law enforcement, larger fines and penalties, and rewards for those who report illegal fish introductions.
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Our Work

Garden for Wildlife: Certified Wildlife Habitats

The Montana Wildlife Federation is teaming up with National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife program to transform backyards, school grounds, places of worship, businesses, and community spaces in Billings into Certified Wildlife Habitats.
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Our Work

Tell State Land Board to Approve Horse Creek Conservation Easement

This project would protect in perpetuity more than 15,000 acres of private ranchland from development, and keep it in a working cattle operation.
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Your generous donation supports Montana Wildlife Federation’s work conserving our wildlife, wild places, and hunting and angling opportunities for current and future generations.

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Capitol Report: Budgets and Bills

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The 2017 Legislature was back at it after the transmittal break, and lawmakers in the House got to work to pass Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks budget and send it to the Senate.

The operating budget, HB 2, contains the funding for the operations at FWP. The bill was heard before the House Appropriations committee, and passed with a few amendments. One of those is problematic because it uses federal Pittman Robertson firearm and ammunition excise tax dollars for law enforcement, which puts restrictions on what game wardens can use their time working on. We will be working to get that amended out when HB 2 is heard in the Senate Finance and Claims committee.

The budget also does one-time-only funding for the Parks and Communications and Education departments within FWP. While that’s not ideal for planning, it will give those departments a chance to review their budgets coming into the 2019 Legislature.

Next week, the House Appropriations committee will hear HB 5, the capitol improvements bill for the state that includes the Habitat Montana program. MWF has worked with 11 other sportsmen and conservation organizations to build a coalition to get Habitat Montana spending authority fully restored. We will be organizing to ensure that the committee hears the voices of hunters and anglers about the importance of our best habitat and access program.

Livestock Loss Prevention

SB 73 to renew the state Livestock Loss program was heard this week in the House Agriculture committee. This bill brings together conservation and agriculture groups to seek solutions to the difficult issues of living with wolves and grizzly bears. The bill renews the program that would sunset this year, and it includes funding for prevention work that includes carcass management, fencing and range riders. MWF has worked throughout the past year to build successful programs that benefit people and wildlife.

Hunters Against Hunger, CWD and other bills

SB 183, to lift the sunset on the Hunters Against Hunger program, passed out of House FWP and is sailing toward passage. In addition, this week SJ 9, calling for a study of chronic wasting disease, passed out of the Senate Fish and Game committee 7-4. We strongly support this effort to look into the biggest threat to ungulate herds and how to prepare for its arrival in Montana.

In addition, HB 324 to overhaul how state parks are managed passed out of the House. MWF opposes this bill and will work on the Senate side to kill it. While we understand that the parks have maintenance issues, those are best handled within the department under the leadership of the FWP director.

As always, check the Montana Wildlife Federation bill tracker at montanawildlife.org for the most up-to-date information on bills and where they’re at in the process. For questions, contact MWF Conservation Director Nick Gevock at ngevock@mtwf.org or by calling 458-0227 ext. 108.

Muddying Montana’s Waters

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Rivers, streams, lakes and wetlands play an integral role in the lives of many Montanans. The waters that give us a place to fish, hunt, and float deserve to be protected. Unfortunately, hunters and anglers are seeing that, once again, our streams, lakes, and wetlands are under attack.

An executive order just issued by the Trump Administration would repeal the Clean Water Rule, removing the protections of the Clean Water Act from hundreds of thousands of miles of streams and waterways in Montana and across the nation. In fact, this directive removes protections for 60 percent of the nation’s stream miles and 20 million acres of wetlands.

The Clean Water Rule was developed by the EPA and Corps of Engineers over several years of work, and was intended to clarify legal confusion that existed in the past. The agencies met with over 400 stakeholder groups, including the energy industry, farmers, ranchers, and hunters and anglers. The EPA listened to concerns from the farmers and ranchers and made sure that the rule explicitly excludes artificial irrigation systems, ponds, and ditches, while also reaffirming existing exemptions for normal farming, ranching, and forestry practices.

Under the new executive order, a mining company will no longer need any government permission to dredge the creek upstream from your local trout honey hole. They won’t need permission to build a road through a creek or channel and divert the river to create settling ponds.

Anyone who has spent a day fishing a mountain creek or an early morning in a duck marsh knows how fragile those environments can be. As anglers and hunters, we are careful to respect streambeds and shorelines. Industrial users should also be required to take care of the resource.

In addition to providing quality habitat and hunting and fishing opportunity, small streams and seasonal wetlands provide drinking water for one in three Americans. These areas trap floodwaters, recharge groundwater supplies, and filter out pollution. Approximately 54% of Montana’s population uses public drinking water systems that rely on clean surface water; the rest of Montanans rely on clean groundwater.

John Bradley is MWF’s Eastern Field Representative. You can reach him at jbradley@mtwf.org

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.