Montana’s Governor And Legislature Work Together To Fund Wildlife Strategy

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For the first time, the 2007 Montana Legislature delivered general fund financial support for a new management plan that seeks to include all of Montana’s fish and wildlife.

Governor Brian Schweitzer requested the one-time-only $1 million appropriation of a projected $1 billion surplus in the general fund to help match Montana’s share of federal State Wildlife Grants funds.

"The one-time allocation of general fund money for fish and wildlife management is a watershed event," said Jeff Hagener, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. "This needed funding suggests that every Montanan has a stake in the future of Montana’s fish and wildlife. The support also takes some of the financial burden off Montana’s hunters and anglers who have almost exclusively paid for fish and wildlife conservation by purchasing fishing and hunting licenses."

  Since 2000 Montana has received more than $6 million from the federal State Wildlife Grants program to conserve and manage hundreds of fish and wildlife species that fall in the gap between the state’s major fish and game animals and those that are threatened or endangered. SWG-

-the nation’s core program for preventing fish and wildlife from becoming endangered--now requires a one-to-one match for states to receive federal funding.

FWP will use the new Montana-based funding to carry out portions of a five-year action plan based on Montana’s recently completed Comprehensive Fish and Wildlife Conservation Strategy, a wide-ranging look at all of Montana’s 600 species and their habitats. The strategy analyzes where species are doing well and where they are not, and suggests how improvements can be made.

"The conservation strategy is the framework Montana will use to manage our fish and wildlife resources to make sure they’re healthy for all Montanans to enjoy in the future," Hagener said. "We’re pleased that Gov. Schweitzer and the Legislature recognized the value of this important program."

In preparing its conservation strategy, Montana evaluated 170 habitats and determined about 40 different water- and land-based habitats, and about 60 fish and wildlife species-from mussels to mammals-are in the greatest need of conservation.

SWG-funded projects have focused on prairie fish surveys; burbot and sauger assessments, bat surveys, small mammal surveys, arctic grayling and westslope cutthroat trout restoration, frog and turtle assessments, loon research, riparian bird assessments; and wolf and grizzly conservation.

SWG was created by Congress in 2000 and provides $65 million to $85 million annually to the states. The national Teaming with Wildlife Coalition supports the program with more than 5,000 members comprised of state fish and wildlife agencies; national, state and local conservation organizations; and many businesses.

The Montana Teaming with Wildlife Coalition has grown from 47 members in 2006 to more than 100 and its steering committee works closely with FWP to help the agency put the new conservation plan into action. Steering committee members include FWP, Montana Wildlife Federation, Montana Audubon Council, Montana Trout Unlimited, Montana Association of Land Trusts, National Wildlife Federation and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

For more information visit FWP Conservation in Action website at fwp.mt.gov.   Click Conservation in Action.