FWP: Leash rule at Kootenai Falls protects public access

The Kootenai Falls Wildlife Management Area, with it’s popular public-use trails, is unusual in that it remains open to public access during the winter, but failure by a few people to follow the rules could endanger that.

“We need to show due diligence that we are maintaining this property for bighorn sheep,” said Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Wildlife Biologist Tonya Chilton-Radandt. “And if there are a bunch of dogs running around off leash, not under control, we can no longer justify or say that we are in fact keeping this area safe for bighorn sheep.”

The rule comes back to the arrangement under which the previous land owner entrusted the WMA to FWP, she said. “Legally, we are mandated to manage that property for bighorn sheep. Not for people. Not for dogs.”

If people with dogs off leash become enough of a problem, the FWP would be forced to disallow any public access between Dec. 1 and May 15, as is common for other WMAs around the state, she said.

“To be honest, that stinks,” she said.

Even just having dogs chasing the sheep, which are already at a high stress time in the year, can have significant negative impacts. Yet, Chilton-Radandt said that in the past she has come across at least one dead lamb that showed no signs of sickness or poor health, but that appeared to have been killed by an animal of the canid family, she said.

She was unable to conclude what killed the sheep with certainty, but it worried her because of the implications both for the bighorn sheep and for public use if it had been shown to be a domestic dog that did it.

“I know what a great spot it is,” Chilton-Radandt said. “I had a dog, and I would take her on the WMA quite frequently.”

Yet, often on those walks, she would come across people with dogs off leash and have to remind them of the rule, she said. Having to confront someone like that was never fun.

Over this past winter, signs about the leash rule on the WMA’s trails also began to be destroyed and vandalized, she said. She had to go out at least once a month to put up new ones.

The FWP was able to catch some of the vandals in the past with trail cameras, and enforcement efforts — including random checks — continue, but the vandalism has continued. So has the rule-breaking that puts everyone’s access in jeopardy.

The issue has come up before, Chilton-Radandt said. In the early 2000s, a series of well-attended meetings seemed to gain a general consensus that obeying the leash rule was in the general best interest.

At one point, there were also some issues with homeowners living near the WMA who allowed their dogs to wander free during the day.

“The irony is, we have mountain lions and wolves in there. They’re putting their critters at risk in that way too,” Chilton-Radandt said.

Chilton-Radandt said that it can be frustrating that it’s a problem to get people to keep their dogs on leash in the WMA. “It’s such a simple thing.”

Chilton-Radandt said she has also considered reaching out to local Boy Scouts who are looking for an Eagle Scout project to see if they would be interested in helping to construct more permanent signs for the WMA.

“It’s such a special location, and like I said, we are mandated to manage it in a particular way,” she said. “And if human use is not compatible with the way it’s supposed to be managed, we’re going to have to close it, at least when it’s the most critical period for sheep.”