Bill could hurt state parks

       To the Editor:

As I started to read a recent opinion

column by state senators Jon Sonju and Chas Vincent which began,

“State parks are important to all people in Montana,” I thought to

myself, will wonders never cease; is Sen.Vincent finally being a

friend to Montana sportsmen? Then I read the rest of the

article.

The next paragraph briefly explains

Senate Bill 13, which Vincent and Sonju support. The bill would

cripple a popular and successful park funding program by reversing

the $4 fee automatically added when you register a vehicle to a fee

you will have to request to pay. If you don’t want to pay it now,

all you have to do is ask. It continues with concerns of “funding a

growing bureaucracy”, i.e. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks with

some curious budget figures and a few other statements that bare

clarification.

FWP is funded mostly with license fees

matched with federal Pittman-Robertson dollars, (an 11 percent tax

on guns, ammunition, or archery equipment). This makes up about 88

percent of the overall budget being paid for by hunters, fishermen

and shooting enthusiasts, not the Montana legislature who seem have

taken it upon themselves to micro-manage this agency in 2011.

The purchase of the Spotted Dog Ranch

(near Avon) for $15.2 million was not at a “cost to the taxpayer,”

but funded through the Natural Resource Damage Program. This

program was an offshoot of the settlement with the state and

Atlantic Richfield Company, to mitigate for habitat losses,

primarily in the upper Clark Fork basin. In regards to public

access, this is a Wildlife Management Area and it’s no secret that

the main intent of their purpose is often to provide winter range

and big game security. This is usually December through May when

animals are most vulnerable and best left alone. They are open the

rest of the year for all sorts of public use. A notable exception

is our local Sheep Range WMA at the end of the Kootenai River Road,

which is open to public access year round and enjoyed by everyone,

not just hunters.

If you like hunting and fishing in

Montana, unfortunately you need to pay close attention to the

current legislature. There are quite a few bills on the table, so

to speak, which could have long lasting impacts on our outdoor

pursuits. One of the worst is HB 309, which would “clarify” (read

eliminate) public access to altered waterways. This has the

potential to unravel the cherished Stream Access Law, and make a

lot of Montana’s rivers and streams off limits to fishermen,

trappers, and other recreational users by defining them as “

irrigation ditches.”

The requester of this bill? Sen. Chas

Vincent.

Tom Horelick

Libby