One of several priorities for the Montana Wildlife Federation is the passage of legislation to increase funding to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would dramatically increase funding for every state wildlife agency, including $29 million/year for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, to implement on-the-ground projects to conserve fish and wildlife.
The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would be good for wildlife and for people. By supporting early intervention to conserve wildlife before they reach the brink of extinction, it would reduce the cost to taxpayers and the regulatory burdens on farmers, ranchers, and other resource users. The bill enjoys broad support from conservation organizations, the energy industry, businesses, and wildlife managers.
Like the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act enjoys broad, bipartisan support. The bill has more than a hundred cosponsors, including both Republicans and Democrats, from all over the country.
Montanans have a chance to add to our shared public lands heritage and gain access to a massive block of National Forest lands through the proposed Falls Creek purchase in northern Lewis and Clark County. This 442-acre parcel is a gem in and of itself. But even more importantly, its purchase would open up a mile of the Falls Creek Trail, protect important wildlife habitat along Falls Creek and open up access to roughly 26,000 acres of Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest lands in the area. This is an incredible opportunity to improve public access and help improve wildlife management. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) is working with the landowner and several other partners to make this land purchase happen. Montana Wildlife Federation (MWF) commends all parties engaged in this process and strongly supports this excellent project.
Photo by Kendall Flint, President, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance
In recent months, the Badger-Two Medicine has been in the conservation limelight as renewed oil and gas leases threaten this sacred space. The Badger-Two Medicine is a wild landscape that holds historical, cultural, ecological, and religious significance to the people of Montana. On October 30, sixteen diverse sportsmen organizations signed and sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke asking him to stand up for the Badger. Because of the high value of the Badger-Two Medicine Area, public and private interests have repeatedly come together to protect this vitally-important national resource and this time is no different. Alongside all those who value the Badge-Two Medicine, sportsmen are the among the most passionate advocates for this sacred space and will continue to advocate for the permanent protection of the Badger.
I know that I’m not alone when I say that the wilderness hunting experience represents the apex of what I want from the outdoors. Many hunters like me look for pristine environments untouched by roads, clearcuts, and the hum of towns and highways, areas preferably brimming with elk and deer unconditioned to hunters. Finding this experience requires more bootleather and sweat than most people are willing to give, for a chance at success that rates somewhere around the acceptance rate of an Ivy League university. The isolation and remoteness that characterizes wilderness areas and wilderness study areas (WSAs) is also a bedrock condition for healthy big game populations both within and outside the wilderness boundary.
I’ve learned that bucks and bulls alike take refuge in steep and deep sanctuaries where the threat of predation or human interference is minimal. I shot a bull on the very edge of one of these havens during the first week of archery season this year, and I’m convinced that this experience and this beautiful animal were both dependent upon the immaculate and rugged habitat of the wilderness study area I found them in. The Thursday after opening day, I hiked four miles through BLM land littered with cattle and roads without seeing so much as a disappearing flash of tan. The very moment I crossed into view of one of the WSAs near Missoula, I spotted a mature bull feeding along a ridgeline. Half an hour later, he charged a cow call and gave me a frontal shot at barely three yards. Within ten seconds, I watched him crash just below me. I still have residual adrenaline from this encounter, and I am sure that this memory will stay with me long after I stop chasing elk.
This was not a remote backcountry wilderness experience: it was a public lands hunting saga that many of my peers would recognize. I hiked in on roads that are open to motorized access for most of the year, but I found elk the moment that I crossed the boundary of the WSA. This WSA is one of the areas being targeted in legislation offered by Senator Steve Daines and Congressman Greg Gianforte, who want to open it and nearly 800,000 acres of other public lands to development, motorized access, and resource extraction. Their legislation would deprive us, as hunters, the experience of pursuing confident and unpressured elk on public lands. Please stand with me in opposing H.R. 5148 and 5149 and S. 2206.
I’ve spent the last month bow hunting elk and mule deer in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest (HLCNF). For me, harvesting an animal is only part of the experience I search for when I venture into the wild. Like many Montanans who hunt, I derive much of my enjoyment from the environment where I’m hunting. The natural beauty can salvage what might otherwise be the most demanding and disheartening of hunts. For those of us in central Montana, we are fortunate enough to have the world-class HLCNF in our backyards. However, this one of a kind landscapes didn’t there by accident and won’t remain if sportsmen and women don’t get involved in the revision of the current forest plan.
Once implemented, the new forest plan will determine the next twenty to forty years of management for nearly 2.8 million acres of public land that provide numerous recreation opportunities including hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, biking, snowmobiling, caving, and many other activities. These areas are also home to numerous species of flora and fauna. Several of Montana’s most iconic rivers flow through the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, and vital water sources for surrounding communities have their headwaters in the Forest. If sportsmen and women don’t get involved, these places will endure and future generations will only have stories to show them how incredible they once were.
So how can you get involved and make a difference? The best way is to submit a comment to the Forest Service. Make your comments specific and factually based. MWF is encouraging people to comments on the following themes:
Include clear wildlife management standards in the plan (currently lacking)
Preserve large, unfragmented landscapes that protect wildlife
Preserve the pristine nature of the Badger-Two Medicine
Comment on any specific area you where you recreate.
If you need help making comments, contact MWF’s Central MT Field Representative, Marcus Strange at mstrange@mtwf.org.
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.
One of several priorities for the Montana Wildlife Federation is the passage of legislation to increase funding to prevent wildlife from becoming endangered. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act would dramatically increase funding for every state wildlife agency, including $29 million/year for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, to implement on-the-ground projects to conserve fish and wildlife.
