FWP advisory committee is public's liaison to agency

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks organized the Citizen Advisory Committees from the 1995 Charter: “to more fully involve citizens, sportsmen, sportswomen and non-traditional constituents in decision-making, policy development and communication based on the regard for the resource, mutual respect and personal relationships.

An advisory committee comprised of key citizens can help the department achieve its goals by serving two main functions: providing the agency with information, ideas, emerging trends and initiatives from the public in a setting that welcomes diverse interests, and providing a vehicle for FWP to inform key citizens — with the expectation that they will in turn inform the broader public.”

It needs to be clear that the committee is only advisory in nature and has no authority over any public or private lands, personnel issues, state or federal agency or non-governmental organization.

The Citizen Advisory Committee members are expected to be folks who relish personal contact with other members of their communities to learn their concerns with respect to outdoor recreational opportunities and access for pursuing their interests.

Montana FWP formulated a Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) for each of the seven FWP Administrative Regions; Region 1 is made up of Flathead, Lake, Lincoln and Sanders counties and includes Hunting Districts 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 109, 110, 120, 122, 123, 124, 130, 132, 140, 141, 150 and 151.

New members for the committee are chosen from the various communities within Region 1 by FWP employees and by sitting members of the committee. All members should represent a broad cross section of the various outdoor interests of those communities. The Region 1 committee has 14 active members who represent interests of hunting, fishing, trapping, outfitting, camping, off-road travel and other recreational uses of public and private lands and waters in the region.

Current members from Lincoln County are Lee Brundin, Bernie Cassidy, Leo Marnell, Mike Rooney and Randall Richard (Eureka). Some of the members are retired, and among all the members there is an incredible range of skills including forestry management, biologists, small business ownership, wildlife management and advocacy, engineering, warm water fishing experience and interests, but all share an interest in providing a link from Montana citizens to the Montana FWP.

The latest meeting was held at FWP Region 1 headquarters in Kalispell at 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 5, with roughly half the current members in attendance, although several alumni members, who are always encouraged to attend, were there who added significantly to the discussions. The primary topic at this meeting was the current status of the first year of a planned 10-year study of the moose populations in Montana. Jesse Newby, FWP Wildlife Research Technician, presented an overview of the annual report, focused on portions of Beaverhead, Lincoln, Pondera and Teton counties. Our own area 105 in the Cabinet Mountains is a primary site.

Admittedly, the moose population has been in decline. However, anecdotal surveys at game checking stations and reported moose sightings via phone surveys and post-season hunter reports in Montana numbered more than 6,800 for 2012. It is now well known that Minnesota has lost as much as 95 percent of its moose population within the last 10 years due to a number of causes such as tick infestations, liver flukes, temperature stress and loss of habitat.

The first report is lengthy, but can be found at FWP_PRAnnualMooseReport_FY13_20130906.pdf.

Their plan forward is to monitor  temperatures, follow and resurvey collared animals, and to trap and install GPS collars on as many as 12-15 additional moose to total 30 animals in each of the target areas of the Cabinet Mountains, Big Hole Valley (mostly private lands), and the Rocky Mountain Front. This will give them the opportunity to also evaluate the effects on moose survival of the different habitats of these unique locations.

As a side note, John Newby mentioned that there were more Boone and Crocket level Shiras moose harvested this year than in past years, and that the reported average hunter effort days steadily increased since 2005.

The last portion of each meeting is to allow the the committee members to discuss items of concern in their respective communities, which is a member-by-member discourse, but FWP, committee, law enforcement (a game warden is always invited) and alumni always have a chance to respond. A trend of significance this time of the year is the lack of concern for gated and blockaded roads, and was mentioned by members from Kalispell, to Thompson Falls, to Eureka and to Libby. The warden in attendance mentioned that at least 15 citations have been written in the Flathead this hunting season to folks driving ATVs and vehicles around locked gates and barricades. From my own perspective, and this was a shared concern of the committee: the people doing this are as bad as slob hunters and poachers. If we cannot police ourselves, we could lose access to a significant resource simply because we either think the roads are not closed to us or we are too lazy to learn how to hunt. The warden also participated in a discussion with USFS law enforcement as well as Plum Creek personnel who estimated that gate damage this year is in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The latest hunter success statistics were discussed and as everyone knows, the whitetail deer harvest improved over last year. What has yet to be published is the fact that the number of mature —  four-years and older — bucks reported through the check stations has improved  as well as the number of 1- to 2-year old bucks. FWP thoughts are that this is a good indication of a broader spectrum of good health among whitetails.

FWP Wildlife Management Specialist, John Vore, who supervises the Swan Valley Checking Station, said that the 2009-’10 season in the Swan Valley produced the highest proportion of five-year or older bucks. The mule deer population is in decline, but John Vore said that there have been three major swings in mule deer populations in the course of his 30-plus years with the department. The elk populations are good, but the lack of  snow allowed the herds to stay in areas that are harder to get to, thus hunter success was lower.

The lower Clark Fork area has been one of the traditionally highest producers of elk as well as large bulls, but this year the harvest count was down due to lack of snow.

Several issues of upcoming importance were discussed including the possibility that B licenses may be issued in certain districts of the region to reduce the number of whitetail does, primarily on private lands. A suggestion made by a CAC member was to allow a Class A tag for the subject district to carry an “either/or” doe or buck, but only one, qualification for that tag. Another issue was the Lake Trout EIS for Flathead Lake that is being prepared by the Kootenai-Salish, but FWP has been quite public regarding their position on the issue and will be participating in further discussions with Kootenai-Salish personnel.

The walleyes in Noxon Reservoir are not on a back burner, and plans are being formulated within Region 1 FWP for a study. Obviously, there is a great deal of interest within the communities near Noxon Reservoir as well as within the ranks of people intent on warm-water fisheries propagation. These interests are represented on the committee.

The State Parks and Recreation portion of the FWP has now been split off into a separate board that will have their own budget and board of directors. The unique distinction is that Parks and Recreation focuses only on Montana State Lands and therefore gets no funding from the federal government, thus allowing the new department to set fees as they see necessary to run their operations.

This new board will hold its second-ever meeting in Kalispell at the Region 1 headquarters Dec. 17. I bring this up because FWP is re-evaluating licensing rates for all classes of hunting and fishing licenses and permits, but all changes have to be passed through the Montana legislative process because they involve federal and state funding and control oversight. We could very well see increases in resident and non-resident fees, but the “jury is in deliberation,” whatever that means.

(Mike Rooney, a Libby resident, is a member of the FWP Citizen Advisory Committee.)