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Alec Underwood

FWP 2018-2019 Season Setting Public Meetings

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Show up and Speak Up for Hunting Opportunity!
Show up and Speak Up for Hunting Opportunity!

Fish, Wildlife and Parks is holding public meetings on its tentative hunting season proposals throughout the state.  They need to hear from you!

Region 1
Kalispell – Saturday, January 6, Flathead Community College Arts & Technology Building, Large Community Meeting Room AT 139, Open House 9-10 AM, 10 AM meeting
Trout Creek – Tuesday, January 9, Lakeside Motel and Resort, 7:00 PM
Libby – Tuesday, January 16, Libby Little Theater, 7:00 PM
Eureka – Thursday, January 18, Lincoln Electric, 7:00 PM

Region 2
Anaconda – Tuesday, January 2, Metcalf Center, 6:30 PM
Lincoln – Wednesday, January 3, Lambkins Café, 6:30 PM
Missoula – Thursday, January 4, Doubletree Inn, 6:30 PM
Deer Lodge – Monday, January 8, Community Center, 6:30 PM
Darby – Tuesday, January 9, Community Clubhouse, 6:30 PM
Seeley Lake – Wednesday, January 10, Community Hall, 6:30 PM
Lubrecht – Thursday, January 11, Conference Center, 6:30 PM
Helmville – Monday, January 15, Community Center, 6:30 PM
Hamilton – Tuesday, January 16, Bitterroot River Inn, 6:30 PM
Philipsburg – Wednesday, January 17, Granite County Museum, 6:30 PM
Superior – Thursday, January 18, High School Multi-purpose Room, 6:30 PM
Drummond – Monday, January 22, Community Center, 7:30

Region 3
Whitehall – Wednesday, January 3, Whitehall High School, 6-8 PM
Bozeman – Thursday, January 4, Holiday Inn, 6-8 PM
Butte – Tuesday, January 9, United Congregational Church, 6-8 PM
Livingston – Wednesday, January 10, Yellowstone Pioneer Lodge, 6-8 PM
Helena – Thursday, January 11, Montana Wild, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Dillon – Thursday, January 11, Search and Rescue building, 6-8 PM
Lima – Tuesday, January 16, Lima School, 6-8 PM
Gardiner – Thursday, January 18, Gardiner High School, 6-8 PM

Region 4
Chester – Wednesday, January 3, High School Auditorium, 511 Main Street, 7 PM
Shelby – Thursday, January 4, Marias River Electric Coop., 910 Roosevelt Hwy, 7 PM
Stanford – Tuesday, January 9, Judith Basin CO Courthouse, 91 3rd Street North, 7 PM
Conrad – Tuesday, January 9, Community Center, 311 S. Vaughn, 7 PM
Wolf Creek – Thursday, January 11, Wolf Creek School, 7 PM
White Sulphur Springs – Thursday, January 11, Training Center, 104 W. Crawford, 7 PM
Choteau – Monday, January 15, Choteau public library – back room, 7 PM
Fort Benton – Tuesday, January 16, Ambulance Barn, 810 15th St., 7 PM
Lewistown – Wednesday, January 17, Sheriff’s Complex, 121 8th Ave. South, 7 PM
Great Falls – Thursday, January 18, Paris Gibson School, 2400 Central Ave., 7 PM

Region 5
Roundup – Tuesday, January 9, Ambulance Barn, 7-9 PM
Billings – Wednesday, January 10, Radisson Hotel, 7-9 PM
Harlowton – Thursday, January 11, Harlowton Public Library, 6-8 PM
Red Lodge – Tuesday, January 16, Middle School Cafeteria, 7-9 PM
Columbus – Wednesday, January 17, High School Cafeteria, 7-9 PM
Big Timber – Thursday, January 18, Big Timber Public Library, 7-9 PM

Region 6
Glasgow – Monday, January 8, Cottonwood Inn, 6:30 PM
Plentywood – Wednesday, January 17, Jubilee Room Sheridan CO Courthouse, 6:30 PM
Havre – Thursday, January 16, 6:30, Hill County Electric, 6:30 PM
Malta – Wednesday, January 11, Malta High School Cafeteria, 6:30 PM

Region 7
Miles City – Wednesday, January 10, Miles Community College Room 106, 7-9 PM
Glendive – Thursday January 11, Dawson Community College Ullman Cntr Rm 102, 7-9 PM

Jack Atcheson, Sr: A Lifetime of Conservation

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Jack Atcheson, Sr. (photo courtesy Atcheson family)
Jack Atcheson, Sr. (photo courtesy Atcheson family)

Montana hunters and anglers lost another giant in conservation at the end of December with the passing of Jack Atcheson, Sr. Atcheson, 85, passed away December 27 in his hometown, Butte America.

Atcheson is well-known around the world as a hunting consultant. But Montana sportsmen and sportswomen remember him as a tireless advocate for wildlife, habitat protection and especially for public access to public land.

Jack was instrumental in the effort to gain hunting access to state school trust lands. His work started in the late 1970s, when he and several friends were bird hunting along the Milk River on state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation land. They had the private lessee of the public land drive up and yell at them to get off “his” land.  This experience launched a movement to gain the ability to hunt, fish and recreate on state lands.

That fledgling effort led to the formation of a coalition to gain public access to state trust lands, and later to another effort to pave the way for Montana’s stream access law – the best in the nation. The work of Jack and other activists became the genesis of the Public Land/Water Access Association, the leading organization in the state working to ensure the ability to get to public land.

Atcheson was outspoken, passionate and opinionated. But he always did things with the best interest of wildlife – and the hunters and anglers who loved it – in mind. He had a saying that is still used today, “Go hunting while you can, you’re going to run out of health before you run out of money.”

Jack will be sorely missed by Montana’s sporting community, but he will never be forgotten. Montana, our wildlife, and our sporting traditions are better off because of Atcheson. He was and will always be a giant in conservation circles.

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

Senator Tester Introduces Bill to Tackle Chronic Wasting Disease

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Paradise Valley Mule Deer
Paradise Valley Mule Deer

Today, Senator Jon Tester took action on one of the biggest challenges facing Montana hunters by introducing a bill in Congress to  help state and tribal wildlife agencies address the growing threat to Montana’s big game from Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a deadly neurological illness that is fatal to deer, elk and moose.  This fall, the disease was discovered in the wild in Montana for the first time.  The disease poses a grave threat to Montana’s wildlife and hunting opportunity.

“Senator Tester’s bill will give Fish, Wildlife and Parks and wildlife managers around the country the resources they need to aggressively tackle this deadly disease.” said Dave Chadwick, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation.  “Montana hunters are lucky to have a leader like Jon Tester, who is willing to put the spotlight on this issue and work toward a practical, on-the-ground response.”

Senator Tester’s bill would provide badly needed funding to state wildlife agencies to help fund biologists, equipment and other specialty needs to fight this disease. CWD is a degenerative neurological disease that is extremely difficult to kill and is highly contagious among wildlife. It is always fatal and in some states has led to large declines in deer herds.  A companion bill has also been introduced in the House of Representatives.

“Chronic Wasting Disease is the single greatest threat to our deer and elk herds,” said Bill Geer, MWF president. “Now that it’s confirmed in Montana, we have to act quickly to address this major issue for our cherished wildlife. Sen. Tester’s bill will give state agencies like Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks the resources they need to work to keep this disease at an absolute minimum in our wildlife.”

Sign up for MWF email alerts for  updates on CWD and other issues.

Join MWF to help support our work to protection wildlife, habitat, and outdoor access!

MWF to Congress: Bikes in Wilderness an Unnecessary Distraction

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Wilderness provides security habitat for elk and other wildlife
Wilderness provides security habitat for elk and other wildlife

Today, the House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing on a bill (H.R. 1349) that would rewrite the Wilderness Act to allow “motorized wheelchairs, non-motorized wheel-chairs, non-motorized bicycles, strollers, wheelbarrows, survey wheels, measuring wheels, or game carts within any wilderness area.”

In advance of today’s hearing, the Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) sent a letter to Congressman Greg Gianforte outlining our opposition to  this unnecessary and divisive bill.  We support mountain biking along with other recreational activities on public lands.  However, wilderness areas — which make up only about 12 percent of Montana’s public lands — are supposed to be places that are free of mechanized transportation, along with resource extraction and commercial activity.  These areas provide secure habitat for wildlife and backcountry hunting and angling opportunity.

When conflicts between bicycling and other uses do occur, they are generally not the result of wilderness designation, but rather local planning processes.

“Instead of a top-down rewrite of the Wilderness Act, the best way to balance competing public land uses is through local collaboration that brings stakeholders together to identify areas appropriate for more intensive recreation, areas that need active forest management, and areas that should be designated wilderness,” MWF wrote.  “At a time when Americans should be coming together to find common ground on land management, H.R. 1349 is an unnecessary and divisive distraction.”

You can read MWF’s full letter here.

Quick Response Needed to Control CWD

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Mule Deer on Montana Ranch CC by Scott Akerman
Mule deer by Scott Akerman.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a deadly neurological illness that is fatal to deer, elk and moose — and now it is in Montana.  In the last month, the disease has been confirmed in two wild deer shot by hunters near Billings.

The spread of CWD poses a serious threat to Montana’s big game herds, hunting heritage, and outdoor economy.  Wildlife managers, hunters, and agricultural landowers must take aggressive steps to limit the spread of CWD in both geographic distribution and prevalence within herds.

The arrival of CWD in Montana comes just as the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks was in the  process of revising their CWD Management Plan.  The plan calls for more monitoring to catch CWD occurrences, special hunts to determine prevalence within a deer herd, and stepped up public outreach to educate people about the threat.

MWF has weighed in with comments on the FWP’s plan with a call for quick, aggressive action to control CWD.  MWF supports more resources for eradication as a primary strategy for containing the disease, including the use of aggressive special hunts.  MWF also reaffirmed support for a general hunting season that emphasizes opportunity, which can keeps buck-doe ratios low and prevent the spread of the disease.  Finally, MWF reiterated the importance of ending elk feeding in Wyoming, which is a major vector in spreading multiple wildlife diseases.

“Montanans have long feared this day, yet knew it was inevitable,” MWF wrote.  “With solid cooperation from Montana’s hunters, as well as landowners and others, we can work to limit its scope in both range and prevalence. We should strive to eradicate CWD in cervids in our state, and must act quickly.”

Click here for MWF’s CWD letter.

Jeff Lukas – MWF Elk Campaign Manager

Jeff Lukas

Elk Campaign Manager

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.