A new bill introduced today by Senator Jon Tester will help address Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) – a debilitating and always-fatal neurological disease in deer, elk and moose that threatens big game populations and hunting opportunities in Montana and nationwide. The disease was detected in Montana in 2017 and has been confirmed in 26 states so far.
The Chronic Wasting Disease Management Act will authorize $35 million funding for state and tribal wildlife agencies to take action in response to CWD. It also authorizes $25 million in funding for practical research to understand and respond to the disease.
“Chronic Wasting Disease is a threat to Montana’s big game, our hunting opportunity, and ultimately our outdoor economy,” said Dave Chadwick, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation. “Senator Tester’s bill will marshal the resources that our wildlife managers need to fully understand this disease and rapidly respond to outbreaks.”
“Chronic Wasting Disease is a clear and present danger to North America’s deer, elk, and moose herds, and the hunters and communities that depend on them,” said Mike Leahy, director of Wildlife, Hunting and Fishing Policy for the National Wildlife Federation. “But even though the disease has continued to spread, there’s been a lack of urgency in our federal leadership. That promises to change, with these plans to provide states and tribes the support required to respond to this critical threat to America’s wildlife.”
A companion bill to Senator Tester’s bill was also introduced today in the House of Representatives by Reps. Ron Kind and Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin.
Friday marked transmittal for the 2019 Montana Legislature, which is the halfway point of the session and the day when non-revenue bills must have passed the chamber of the Legislature they were first introduced in, or they die.
For Montana’s hunters, anglers and wildlife supporters, it’s been a mixed bag. Some good bills have died and many are still alive, while many bills we have opposed have been killed and others are going to have to be worked on in the second half. The one constant is that the Montana Wildlife Federation’s staff, lobbyist and volunteers have been in the capitol every day to give our wildlife, habitat and sporting heritage a voice.
Here is the “halftime report” for our key issues:
Access Bills
Working to improve public access to public lands is a key priority for MWF. Several bills are moving in this category and we’re working to advance two bills that could help address gated roads, while we’re opposing one that could further throw doubt into roads’ public status.
SB 301 (Sen. Jason Small, R-Busby) would require that anyone gating a road that leads to public land get permission from the county commission beforehand. The bill passed the Senate 45-5, showing strong support for better public access to public lands. It will now go to the House.
HB 550 (Rep. Alan Redfield, R-Livingston) is a bad bill for public access. It could redefine public roads that lead to public land by removing them from maps for the gas tax rolls. These maps and gas tax rolls are used to help determine the status of public roads that lead to public land, and once they’re off a public map they’ll be further in doubt as the public fights for public access. The bill passed the House 58-42 and heads to the Senate after transmittal. MWF opposed the bill and will continue working to amend it so it doesn’t impact those maps, or kill it if we can’t work with the sponsor.
HB 5: This is a big infrastructure bill. What does that have to do with access? Everything. HB 5 contains both Habitat Montana and fishing access site money. It’s currently sitting in House Appropriations, waiting on executive action. We expect it to be picked up when the Legislature reconvenes.
Elk Management
Elk management and the future of the extended shoulder seasons has been a big topic this session. Two bills that would have put shoulder seasons into law and a resolution have passed the House, although they have been amended.
HB 497 (Rep. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale) would have allowed additional cow elk “B” tags during shoulder seasons. It was amended to remove the shoulder seasons language but would give the Fish and Wildlife Commission the authority to issue an additional cow elk license. That would make b license allocation similar to deer licenses. With these amendments, MWF has dropped our opposition and we thank both the Sponsor Wylie Galt (R-Martinsdale) and the amendment sponsor, Zach Brown (D-Helena) for working together to find common ground on a tough issue.
HJ 18 (Rep. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale) was problematic for a variety of issues. It needlessly pitted landowners against hunters, called for party hunting, concrete dates for shoulder seasons that would eliminate the discretion of regional and local wildlife managers and would have encouraged bad behavior. MWF strongly opposed the bill. On the House floor, Rep. Zach Brown made two amendments. 1.) The party hunting was amended out, and 2.) An amendment to have Montana FWP provide a more comprehensive list of landowners who participate in the seasons.
Both amendments were put on the bill. MWF still opposes HJ 18 for the reasons mentioned above, but we thank the sponsor and the amendment sponsor for their willingness to work with the hunting community and seek a better solution.
Elk Management in Montana is tricky. With over 70 percent of the state in private hands, we must work with landowners to find better ways to manage elk that respect the public trust doctrine, while also respecting private property rights. We’re hopeful that the FWP budget remains intact, so we can hopefully start down that road together when FWP begins its new elk management plan later this year.
Fair Chase Hunting Ethics
SB 127 (Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena) would bar people from selling the data on specific big game animals. This is a trend in other states that we want to get out in front of. The bill has passed the Senate and is going to the House. MWF strongly supported it.
SB 283 (Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena) would have set up rulemaking authority for the Fish and Wildlife Commission to withhold specific data about wildlife, such as den locations, nesting areas, etc. MWF supported the bill, but it died in the Senate Fish and Game committee.
SB 187 (Sen. Mike Phillips, D-Bozeman) would have barred people from running over predatory animals with vehicles, including coyotes. The bill died in the Senate Fish and Game committee. MWF supported it.
Wolf Bills
Several bills have come forward this session that would affect wolf hunting, trapping and the cost of licenses for wolves. MWF has been engaged on all of them.
HB 551 (Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls) would have allowed wolf hunting at night. MWF opposed the bill based on how the bill was written, as well as the ethical implications. It died on the House floor 56-44.
HB 279 (Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls) would allow groups to pay trappers a bounty for dead wolves. MWF does not support bounties for game species and opposed the bill. Montana has ample wolf hunting and trapping opportunity. The bill has passed the House and is heading to the Senate, where we will continue to oppose it.
HB 291 (Rep. Becky Beard, R-Avon) would create a voluntary account with Montana FWP in which hunters could make a donation to the US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services. In the past, voluntary accounts have not generated much funding and in many cases actually cost FWP money administrative costs. MWF opposed the bill but asked for a sunset to try it out. The bill has passed the House and will head to the Senate.
The other wolf bills, all sponsored by Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls, would lower the cost of wolf licenses. They include HB 280, which would allow resident hunters to add a wolf license onto their sportsman’s license; HB 407, which would lower from $19 to $12 the cost of a wolf license for residents; and HB 281, which would give non-residents who purchase a big game combination license a half-price wolf license for $25. MWF worked on all of these bills and supports the current versions in play.
Bison Bills
HB 332 (Rep. Joshua Kassmier, R-Ft. Benton) would require county commission approval for the translocation of bison. This bill has been vetoed three times before. It has passed the House and MWF continues to oppose this bill that would give county commissions authority over wildlife management.
HB 132 (Rep. Ken Holmlund, R-Miles City) would redefine bison and make any bison that has been held in captivity domestic livestock. That would turn all bison from Yellowstone National Park that go through the quarantine facility there to ensure they’re free of brucellosis into domestic livestock. The bill has passed the House. MWF is opposed to this bill that would convert valued native wildlife into livestock and stifle future efforts to restore wildlife where appropriate.
AIS Funding
Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) and the threat they pose to our waterways and coldwater fisheries were a big issue in 2017 and continue to be. Montana FWP got its boat inspection program up and running quickly and it has been successful. The issue now is how to fund it in the future.
There are several bills in the mix, including HB 32 (Rep. Willis Curdy, D-Missoula) is the bill that came out of the Environmental Quality Council. It would not include hydropower to help pay for the program. The bill would include funding from the state general fund, as well as from anglers through fishing licenses. It had a hearing in early February in the House Natural Resources committee but has not been voted on.
HB 411 (Rep. Willis Curdy, D-Missoula) is another bill addressing AIS funding that creates prevention passes for boats but also broadens the funding to other sources. MWF is engaged in this and the other bills that would affect the funding to run the AIS program. We will continue to work on this major issue for our fisheries and waters.
Sage Grouse
Montana’s sage grouse conservation plan is under attack this session as well. SB 299 (Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta) would exempt the majority of development in sage grouse habitat from the standards and mitigation rules under the plan. It would likely lead to a listing of the species under the Endangered Species Act by severely weakening the plan that took a broad coalition of interest groups including industry and agriculture to develop. The bill has been amended to make it better, but still has numerous problems for the future of sage grouse conservation. MWP opposes the bill.
Grizzly Bear Resolution
SJ 6 (Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka) called for Congress to remove grizzly bears throughout all of Montana from the federal Endangered Species List. MWF sees the grizzly bear recovery in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Continental Divide ecosystems as a great success and supported their delisting. We have worked with the sponsor to amend the resolution to where it calls for delisting the two populations and revamping the 1993 larger grizzly conservation strategy, among other things. It’s a much better resolution that we will now support. Our sincere thanks to Senator Cuffe for his willingness to draft a resolution that brings all sides together, rather than seeking to divide Montanans on an issue which most agree on.
State Parks
SB 24 (Sen. Terry Gauthier, R-Helena) would raise from $6 to $9 the fee on motor vehicle licenses to fund state parks, community trails and fishing access sites. The bill drew support from a broad coalition including communities, health care, and outdoor recreation. It was tabled in the Senate Fish and Game committee but was blasted onto the Senate floor where it passed 31-19.
FWP Funding
Montana FWP came into the session in sound financial shape, largely because of the revamp of hunting and fishing licenses passed by the 2015 Legislature. That bill also called for a four-year review of licenses, and the agency is not requesting a fee increase because of its financial health.
It is asking for one-time capital expenditures including upgrades to regional headquarters and fish hatcheries, some equipment including ATVs, boats and two helicopters for game surveys, and a handful of new positions including grizzly bear prevention specialists and a wildlife management planner to help craft new plans.
The budget is laid out in HB 2 (operations), HB 5 (capital expenditures) remains in good shape after coming through the subcommittees largely intact.
In addition, FWP is asking for a new Automatic Licensing System (ALS). It comes with a $10 million price tag but is justified. The system is nearly 20 years old and serves as the major vehicle for FWP to buy licenses, apply for permits and give information to the agency. MWF supports the move and has worked with the Montana Sporting Coalition to show that broad support from the sporting community.
Other Bills
SB 174 (Sen. Doug Kary, R-Billings) would have allowed crossbows for disabled or hunters over the age of 70. The bill died on the Senate floor 37-13. MWF opposed it.
HB 509 (Rep. Gordon Pierson, D-Deer Lodge) would have required FWP to get a third party verification of its wildlife and fish counts. The bill would have cost FWP more than $400,000 per year. It died in the House FWP committee. MWF opposed the bill.
SB 247 (Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena) would renew for 10 years FWP’s authority to hold water rights to maintain instream flows.
That’s a quick highlight of the bills on our core issues that have come forward. More than 60 have been introduced, and more are expected to come forward in the second half of the session.
Thanks as always for being a member of our Legislative Action Team. MWF staff will continue to put out updates on important bills through our Facebook page, through our blog posts and with our regular weekly update on our blog. You can also access our bill tracker, which is updated in real time, on our homepage.
Please encourage friends and family with an interest in wildlife to join the LAT.
A resolution calling for party hunting, adding shoulder seasons to public lands and removing flexibility for regional management of elk moved ahead this week. This week also saw action on bills affecting wolf management, trapping, and crossbows, and FWP’s budget came out of the first series of committee hearings.
Once again the Montana Wildlife Federation staff, lobbyist and volunteers were busy testifying in hearings, interacting with legislators and engaging our supporters to stand up for wildlife and habitat. As we approach the halfway point of the Legislative session, here are the bills that moved forward or died this week.
War on Elk Moves Ahead
Elk management is always controversial, and a bill and resolution this week threw that out there. HJ 18 had no support from hunting organizations and only seeks to further the divide against hunters and landowners. It sets a dangerous precedent in telling FWP how to manage elk on a fine scale, rather than the traditionally conservative approach to setting overarching policy goals. The resolution calls for party hunting of elk, multiple B tags, shoulder seasons on public land and setting shoulder season dates in stone, regardless of the local wildlife managers’ needs or landowner desires. MWF opposed the resolution.
HB 497 would allow the Fish and Wildlife Commission to issue additional cow elk tags and introduces the concept of shoulder seasons into law. A companion to the HJ 18, both bills passed out of the House FWP committee and are heading to the floor for a vote. We will be working hard to kill both of these bad bills for our elk herds, hunters and for our relations with our friends in the landowner community.
Wildlife Location Bill Advances
The Montana Legislature took a positive step toward maintaining our longstanding ethical, fair-chase hunting heritage this week as a bill to ban the sale of specific locations for big game animals passed the Senate. SB 127 (Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena) would put Montana ahead of other states in which locations can be sold. MWF strongly supports this bill and will work to get it through the House for the governor’s signature.
Wolf Bills
HB 551 (Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls) would allow wolf hunting at night. MWF opposed the bill and does not support hunting any big game at night. This bill would violate fair chase hunting ethics and put hunters out in the field at night, in grizzly bear country and when deer and elk are in the rut.
In addition, HB 279 (Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls) that would allow payments for dead wolves for trappers passed the House this week. MWF is opposed to bounties for any wildlife and is working to kill this bill as it moves to the Senate.
MWF is supporting several other bills this session to reduce wolf license fees for resident and non-resident hunters in an effort to put more hunters in the field, while we maintain our fair chase hunting ethic. These include HB 280, HB 281 and HB 407, all sponsored by Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls.
Wildlife Counts
HB 509 (Rep. Gordon Pierson, D-Deer Lodge) would require third-party verification for Montana FWP’s game counts. MWF opposed this bill because it’s vague, did not specify who would conduct the audits, and would cost FWP more than $400,000 a year in estimated costs. It could also include game birds and fish and doesn’t lay out any methodology that would be used to look at game counts. The bill was heard this week in the House FWP committee and awaits action.
Crossbow Bill Dies
The bill that would have allowed disabled and hunters over age 70 to use crossbows during the archery season died on the Senate floor 37-13 late last week. SB 174 (Sen. Doug Kary, R-Billings) was controversial because of the effect it would have on our fair chase archery hunt. MWF strongly supports opportunities for disabled hunters, and our partners at the Montana Bowhunters Association have worked extensively to provide modified archery equipment for disabled hunters.
Checking Big Game
SB 256 (Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton) would allow a third party to check in big game species that require inspection. A similar bill was brought last session that was limited to outfitted clients, but this bill would apply to all hunters.
Looking Forward
Next week should be extremely busy, with the transmittal deadline that is the halfway point of the Legislature upon us. That’s the deadline when any non-revenue bills must have passed one chamber of the Legislature. We expect evening floor sessions as bills pile up that must pass.
In the next week, we will see bills affecting the sage grouse conservation strategy for the state, another bill on funding the Aquatic Invasive Species program, and a bill on how information on hunter’s harvest locations is accessed by the public. We are also expecting bills affecting bison conservation to continue to move forward.
For the most up-to-date information, check our Bill Tracker, or become a member of our Legislative Action Team and encourage friends and family to join as well.
Montana Wildlife Federation Conservation Director Nick Gevock testifying on a bill.
Bills are really moving in the 2019 Legislature, and the Montana Wildlife Federation again testified, lobbied and engaged our grassroots members to show up and make our voices heard. Here is the rundown from the past week in the halls of the Montana Capitol:
Easement Bill Advances
Last year the landowners, hunters and wildlife enthusiasts of Montana won a big victory when the state Supreme Court ruled that Habitat Montana conservation easements are not required to go through the state Land Board. It was an unnecessary layer of government that had begun to stifle lands projects up to two years in the works. HB 265, sponsored by Rep. Kerry White, R-Bozeman, would undo that and again require Land Board approval for easements. MWF rallied the Montana Sporting Coalition to oppose the bill in the House FWP committee, but it passed out. Our partners hit the floor with numerous messages from members, but on Friday the bill passed out of the House 57-43 and moves to the Senate.
Wildlife Locations Bill
SB 127, sponsored by Sen. Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, would bar the selling of information on specific big game animals. It upholds Montana’s longstanding fair chase hunting ethic and gets us ahead of the trend of people selling specific GPS coordinates for animals. The bill passed the Senate Fish and Game Committee this week and awaits a floor vote.
Grizzly Resolution
MWF opposed SJ 6, Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, a resolution calling for a Congressional delisting of grizzly bears from the Endangered Species Act list for the entire state. The bill would make all of Montana a distinct population segment under the ESA and actually set back delisting efforts for some populations by years.
Anti-public Wildlife Bill Goes Down
HB 161 (Rep. Brad Tschida, R-Lolo) would have taken the public out of wildlife. It would have limited decision making by the Fish and Wildlife Commission to consider a very narrow group of stakeholders – landowners, and kept hunters, anglers and nearly everyone else out of decision making. The bill died in the House FWP committee 9-9 and was a big win for public hunters, anglers and wildlife enthusiasts.
Wolf Licensing
HB 280, which adds a wolf license for resident hunters onto the sportsman’s license for an extra $10, passed the House on Friday. Another bill, HB 407 (Rep. Bob Brown, R-Thompson Falls) was heard in the House FWP that would drop additional wolf licenses from the current $19 to $12. MWF supported both.
State Parks Funding Advances
SB 24 (Sen. Terry Gauthier, R-Helena) would increase the fee on motor vehicle licensing from the current $6 to $9, and allocate the money to state parks, fishing access sites and trails. The bill drew broad support from numerous interests but was rejected by the Senate Fish and Game Committee before it was blasted onto the Senate floor. It passed with a strong 31-19 bipartisan vote this week and is heading to the Senate Finance and Claims Committee.
Preference Points and New Hunters
HB 397 (Rep. Matt Regier, R-Columbia Falls) would extend for three years the timeframe for non-residents who apply for deer and combination big game licenses to keep their preference points. And HB 360 (Rep. Matt Regier, R-Columbia Falls) would give first-time resident hunters a half-price license in an effort to incentivize new hunters. The bill had a very small reduction in funding for FWP, and MWF supported both it and HB 397.
Bison Bill
A bill that would give county commissions the authority to approve or deny bison transplants was heard this week in the House Agriculture Committee. HB 332 (Rep. Joshua Kassmier, R-Ft. Benton) would extend wildlife management decisions to county commissions, even though they have no professional wildlife staff. MWF opposed the bill.
As we approach the transmittal deadline when many bills must pass one chamber of the Legislature, expect the pace to keep picking up, so check our Bill Trackerfor the latest updates. And for more frequent updates, please join the MWF Legislative Action Team.
The Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) has called for the end of all elk shoulder seasons for the 2019-2020 hunting season so state wildlife biologists can evaluate how they’re working in their third season of wide-spread use.
MWF in its comments to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said if the shoulder seasons are meant to properly address elk management, they must meet the criteria that ensure we are getting a strong elk harvest during the five-week general season.
“When MWF supported the establishment of elk shoulder seasons we did so based on the premise they would be a temporary action to reduce elk numbers to proposed objectives and to improve the distribution of elk on the landscape,” MWF President Bill Geer said in the letter. “We also agreed that we would evaluate the season’s effectiveness at the end of three years based on specific performance-based criteria.”
MWF called for gathering the data from this year’s elk shoulder hunts and putting out an addendum to the hunting regulations in August for the hunting districts that are meeting the criteria. In addition, MWF recommended a larger discussion of elk management through a structured decision-making process to revamp our state elk management plan and look at whether the elk objectives set in it are out of date.
MWF is committed to working with our landowner partners and FWP for better wildlife management.
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.
