Ranching for Wildlife comes to Montana
HB 96 was intended to expand a little-used program that provides an elk license or permit to a landowner for allowing public hunters on their land. The bill was crafted over months by the landowners, hunters and outfitters on Private Land/Public Wildlife Council. But that process wasn’t honored by the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee, which radically altered the bill to create a “Ranching for Wildlife” program. Chairman Kelly Flynn, R-Townsend, brought an amendment that would allow the landowner to give the licenses to anyone, rather than only immediate family or full-time employees. It is now ripe for abuse that would lead to privatizing wildlife, and the Montana Wildlife Federation will be leading the fight to oppose the bill.
Habitat Montana
The first hearing on HB 5, the state capital improvements bill, took place last week before the joint subcommittee that oversees FWP. That’s important because Habitat Montana land purchases and fishing access sites are included in HB 5. MWF and several of our conservation partners testified in favor of the program, and we gave the committee an MWF report highlighting successes of the program.
In addition, on Wednesday the Montana Sporting Coalition hosted an event in the rotunda of the capitol and served lunch for legislators. The event included tabling around the rotunda and a short speech from a representative from Ducks Unlimited.
Licensing bills offered
Last session, a sweeping overhaul of our hunting and fishing license structure was enacted. That bill came about after an 18 month process that brought diverse interests together to come up with a solid package to shore up FWP’s budget. Among other changes, the bill standardized the numerous free and reduced priced licenses, and set them all at half the price of a regular license. All of those special licenses were costing FWP $4.9 million a year in funding.
MWF opposed two bills last week that would chip away at that reform. HB 315 would have dropped the fee for non-resident relatives of a resident from one half the regular fee to one quarter. And HB 318 would have created a $120 big game combination licenses for non-resident college students. MWF supports keeping intact the license reforms that took so much work last session and rejecting bills to create more new licenses.
Wolf management
SB 110 would change how FWP wolf biologists report their time, and focus more on broad wolf management. The bill was heard in the Senate Fish and Game Committee on Thursday, and MWF supported it to allow FWP to be more effective and efficient in management. Wolf management has come a long way from a decade ago, thanks in large part to the work of MWF to remove Endangered Species Act protections for them and instill regulated hunting and trapping that has reduced livestock conflicts sharply.
Other bills
Last week we also supported SB 111, which would bar feeding of wild turkeys just as Montana does for other wildlife, and HB 311, giving landowners the ability to give preference to veterans to hunt on block management area properties on Veteran’s Day. MWF came out against HB 305, which would create a county bounty program for predators.
Looking forward
This week a handful of bills are coming up for their first hearing. They include SB 171, to prohibit restriction of certain deer permits; and HB 367, to create a voluntary checkoff for predator management.
As always, check the Montana Wildlife Federation bill tracker at montanawildlife.org/billtracker 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.
