Elk hunting proposals breed confusion, distrust

Following the 2015 Legislature, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks hurried to launch some big projects. But a few proposals are similar enough that they have caused confusion for sportsmen, and that’s bred distrust.

The two most contentious proposals deal with Montana’s elk season, or rather the hunts that can be allowed outside the normal five-week season. For the past two months, FWP commissioners have received lots of calls about proposals dealing with shoulder seasons and game damage hunts.

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Enraged neighbor threatens boaters at Boulder River access site

A landowner who regularly interferes with the public's access to one of Montana’s streams has the notoriety of being a point of concern at two Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission meetings.

Landowner Sean Tetica has repeatedly threatened recreationalists trying to use the Boulder Forks Fishing Access Site to launch their boats onto the Boulder River south of Big Timber.

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LWCF grant helps preserve habitat near Columbia Falls

 A $2 million federal grant will help preserve logging and habitat in northwestern Montana, but it may be one of the last to do so if Congress doesn’t renew the Land and Water Conservation Fund by Sept. 30.

Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded $2 million to the Trust for Public Land to help with the purchase of a conservation easement of almost 7,200 acres in the Trumbull Creek watershed near Columbia Falls.

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Potential gubernatorial candidate unlikely to prioritize sportsmen's issues

Up to now, Montana has remained a state where many voters still pay attention to candidates' stands on issues rather than the letter behind their name. So with the first Republican considering a run for the governor’s office, sportsmen should consider how he might respond to wildlife and public-land issues.

On Monday, Montanans learned that billionaire Greg Gianforte had filed papers with the Secretary of State’s office to begin raising money for a possible gubernatorial run on the GOP ticket.

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FWP hastens rule changes for game damage hunts

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks managers say they want public input on some elk-hunting rule changes, but they held comments to a minimum at two poorly advertised meetings.

During a Wednesday night videoconference, FWP landowner/sportsmen coordinator Alan Charles explained a number of changes that FWP managers want to make to administrative rules pertaining to game damage hunts. A similar videoconference was held Tuesday night for different FWP regions.

The changes were prompted by a June Legislative audit of FWP’s game damage hunt program, which found 11 deficiencies.

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Wildlife advocates: Spare Yellowstone Park bear

After a Yellowstone National Park seasonal employee recently died after being attacked by a grizzly bear, some are rallying against a park decision to euthanize the bear.

On Friday, Lance Crosby, 63, of Billings was found dead a half-mile off the Elephant Back Loop trail near Lake Village on the northwest shore of Yellowstone Lake.

On Wednesday afternoon, an autopsy confirmed that Crosby hadn't died of any other medical condition, so it's likely he was killed by a bear, according to the Associated Press. An earlier National Park Service statement said wounds on Crosby’s arms appeared to be defensive.

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Judge orders deadline for drilling in Badger-Two Medicine

The federal government must quickly establish a timeline for its decision on whether a Louisiana oil and gas company can drill on a lease near the Blackfeet Reservation, according to a federal judge.

On Monday, District of Columbia federal district Judge Richard Leon ordered the Department of the Interior to finalize its timeline for deciding whether Solenex, LLC, can drill an exploratory well within a 6,247-acre lease in the Badger-Two Medicine region.

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Reintroduced sportsmen's bills would fund access, conservation

One should never get too excited when bills are introduced because the Congressional process often takes years to produce a law. But sportsmen’s groups think they could finally score with a new attempt at a bipartisan bill that includes a Montana-made proposal.

On Thursday, four House representatives introduced H.R. 3173, the “Sportsmen’s Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Enhancement Act,” otherwise known as SCORE, which would create or renew seven programs that benefit sportsmen, recreationalists and wildlife.

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Federal, state funding streamlined to conserve sage grouse on private land

Montana has taken a unique step toward conserving a bird that has much of the West scrambling to head off an endangered species listing.

On Monday, Gov. Steve Bullock signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Montana, Inc. to streamline funding for private efforts to conserve sagebrush on Montana’s rangelands.

The memorandum of understanding, the first of its kind in the West, seeks to focus conservation efforts on priority habitat and make it easier for Montana landowners to get a portion of the federal money set aside for sage grouse conservation.

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Few favor Wilks proposal but council approves land-swap concept

While favoring the concept of a land swap, an advisory committee stopped short of approving a new Wilks brothers proposal to trade parts of their property for landlocked federal parcels in eastern Montana.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management Central Resource Advisory Council finished up a two-day meeting in Lewistown by passing a motion to consider the concept of a land swap as an alternative to building a new road to access the Bullwacker area near the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument.

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Lawsuit results in smaller bobcat traps to avoid capturing lynx

To avoid an extended lawsuit, the Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission has approved more stringent bobcat-trapping rules to avoid accidental capture of endangered Canada lynx. But it wasn’t a unanimous or easy vote.

During Thursday’s discussion of furbearer quotas, the FWP commission debated whether to accept trap specifications outlined in a February court settlement between FWP and three environmental groups.

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Paradise Valley mine exploration worries area residents, anglers

A Canadian company wants to mine the Treasure State, but the sites it wants to develop are next to another treasure: Yellowstone National Park. That’s raised concerns for some, especially those that live and work on the Yellowstone River.

For the next week, the Custer Gallatin National Forest and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality are requesting public input on a proposal to explore the gold deposits in the mountains southeast of Emigrant and Chico Hot Springs in the Paradise Valley.

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