FWP director talks public access, predators at meeting

New Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park Director Hank Worsech discovered the passion of hunters, trappers and anglers from Northwest Montana at a meet-and-greet event this week in Kalispell.

Worsech and Deputy Director Dustin Temple met with about three dozen sportsmen from all over Region 1 as well as FWP employees tasked with the direction of various programs involving fish, wildlife and recreation.

During the more than two-hour session, people asked questions and talked about grizzly bears, wolves, elk, public access and the possibility of increasing fees for hunting and fishing.

"There's no question about the passion of sportsmen here and that's what we appreciate," Worsech said.

Worsech's visit was part of a statewide tour to hear from outdoors people at FWP regional offices. The tour began Monday in Missoula before Tuesday's event in Kalispell. It will end Sept. 9 in Miles City.

While several topics were discussed, public access for hunters and anglers seemed to generate the most discussion.

Columbia Falls resident DJ Zor, the Armed Forces Initiative liaison for the state chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, asked if there was a way to preserve access on private land enrolled in the agency's block management access program.

"There are issues with littering, OHV use and vandalism, so what can be done to preserve access?" Zor asked.

Worsech said sportsmen need to police their own ranks.

"Everyone needs to take ownership of the land," Worsech said. "Policing our ranks is critical. With wardens stretched so thin, we need others to let us know when things are happening that could endanger access."

FWP spokesman Dillon Tabish added, "It really means more when sportsmen take the lead in not encouraging slob behavior."

A few people suggested an increase in the cost of a hunting or fishing license could pay for more wardens to patrol.

"I do want us to be seen, but any increase must be approved by the legislature and the governor," Worsech said. 

It hasn't been long since fees increased. In 2016, increases were designed to put $4.5 million into FWP coffers.

FWP Region 1 Supervisor Jim Williams said monitoring the behavior of sportsmen on block management land will be a challenge.

"We're looking at how game wardens will patrol in the region, but citizen reporting is very important," Williams said.

Another Backcountry Hunters and Anglers member asked how to get fees from recreationists who don't buy licenses.

"We tried that before, but we got killed," Worsech said. "We may have to be more creative in 'pay to play' initiatives."

Temple said the agency is looking for potential help from the billions of dollars made available from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.

"It all goes through the governor's office, and it's something we're looking at," Temple said. "But we do feel the Legislature has been generous to the agency in the last few sessions."

Williams touted the agency's success in getting new landowners to agree to conservation easements.

"We've been able to get six big landowners into easements to protect access," Williams said. "We're also nearing approval on the Bad Rock Canyon agreement that would protect 800 acres, so that's pretty neat."

Tabish added that the agency recently completed two acquisitions improving public access on Flathead Lake.

One is the Somers Beach State Park at the north end of Flathead Lake and the other is the 15-acre Montebello Fishing Access Site just north of Dayton.

While public access took up a good amount of time, grizzlies and wolves were also on the minds of some who attended the meeting.

State Rep. Paul Fielder talked about some of the problems he sees in Region 1.

"There are a lot more hunters out there and they're wolves, lions and bears and they create a lot more competition for we hunters," Fielder said. "The forests have also changed and we don't have the management of them we used to.

"Now, it's just 'lock it up and let it burn,'" Fielder said. "Five years to get a timber sale done is too long."

Bear populations in Northwest Montana and on the Rocky Mountain Front have steadily increased and their presence has some people on edge, including those with children.

One man expressed "great concerns" about FWP not being able to manage grizzlies with rising numbers of bears and humans. He believed grizzlies would come out on the losing end of many conflicts. Grizzlies are currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Worsech said he recently had met with officials in other states and Martha Williams, his predecessor at FWP, to discuss solutions for the growing bear population. Williams is now the principal deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"We talked about catching non-conflict grizzlies here and taking them to Yellowstone National Park," Worsech said. "I don't think delisting [of grizzlies] will happen, so we need to come up with something.

"People on the Front are living with grizzlies in their backyard," he said. "One landowner there said he had 34 on his property."

State Sen. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, spoke about concerns with grizzlies in that part of the state.

"We've got bears in the area and people see their sign, but fortunately nothing has happened yet," Cuffe said. "When I first came into the Legislature in 2011, I spoke to Sen. Jon Tester about grizzlies and he agreed with me that if a grizzly gets a kid you wouldn't see a live griz between Eureka and Missoula."

While that scenario hasn't occurred, there have been incidents in the general area, including one in November 2019 when a hunter shot a female grizzly after he said it charged him while he was on the Sinclair Creek Trail in the Kootenai National Forest east of Eureka.

An adult male grizzly was euthanized in May 2020 about 12 miles south of Eureka in the Barnaby Lake area after it became habituated to people and food conditioned. The bear had been trapped and moved from the Bigfork area earlier that spring after it got into food near a residence. The bear had then been moved to a remote area near the British Columbia border. 

On July 4, 2018, an adult male grizzly was euthanized near Trego. The bear, which had become food-conditioned, had been shot and had 50 birdshot pellets in its body.