Limited access to private land challenges FWP

By RON TSCHIDA, Chronicle Staff Writer

Hunters have been locked out of millions of acres of private land in Montana in recent years. The trend is toward fee hunting, leasing by groups of hunters and outfitters, and changes in ownership from traditional ranchers and farmers to recreational owners.

That's frustrating to Montana hunters who were accustomed to free and easy private land access.

But it has created a different problem for Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

"We need hunters as the main tool to provide population control," said Don Childress, FWP's chief of wildlife. "We rely on hunters, hunting seasons and their ability to get to those populations to provide some level of control."

When game populations get out of balance, Mother Nature sometimes takes care of things with disease or winter kill, Childress said.

"Ultimately if there is no access you can watch populations crash and decline," Childress said.

Access is becoming an increasingly thorny issue, with landowners, game officials and hunters finding themselves at odds.

Those involved in the debate obviously have differing views on the problem and possible solutions, but most say money plays a major role in the issue.

"I don't disagree with that," Childress said. "I can't say that I like it. We're involved in recreation. Of course, recreation costs money."

A survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that in 2001 hunters in Montana spent about $240 million on their sport.

Landowners say they provide much of the fuel for the economic engine hunting has become, furnishing range for growing herds of deer and elk.

And they're demanding a bigger say in wildlife management. The Montana Stockgrowers Association wants "harvest based" big game seasons, so hunting continues until a harvest quota is reached.

More controversial is the association's proposal, on the back burner for now, to offer some public access in return for the right to sell "letters of authorization" that guarantee a big game license and land access.

Hunting groups and FWP say that crosses a line, turning public wildlife into a private commodity.

That gets close to the heart of the current debate. Hunters who increasingly are willing to fork over cash for access are defining the dollar value of game.

"It'll take it out of the hands of those that can afford it," said Craig Sharpe, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation, about the trend toward exclusive leasing. "It'll make it a rich man's sport."

"I don't know that we can stop this train," Sharpe said. "It's real unfortunate."

Frustration for ranchers

Lowell Stevenson, who ranches near the Yellowstone River in Dawson County, said state game managers essentially want things both ways.

"They say they're managing (game herds) for the public," Stevenson said. "Then they need to pay the bill for them. I don't put up extra feed for deer and antelope."

But when a landowner contacts FWP to complain about wildlife damage, the first question game managers have is whether the landowner leases hunting rights or charges fees for hunting. If so, the agency won't deal with the complaint.

"Our general game damage rules do not provide game damage assistance to a landowner that doesn't provide for public hunting opportunities," Childress said. "And that was legislation that was very specific recognition that the agency can't manage wildlife at an acceptable level if they don't have the opportunity to have sportsmen harvest them."

To landowners, it sometimes seems like FWP is blackmailing them into allowing public access.

"I myself sound a bit bitter about the Fish and Game," Stevenson acknowledged. "They don't care about the landowner. They don't care about the stockgrower. They care about getting numbers in here to buy licenses to support their spending habits."

Nationwide, the number of hunting licenses sold annually has decreased by 7 percent since 1996. That's caused budget problems for some state wildlife agencies. Montana's participation has not fallen off overall, but in 2002, for the first time, some guaranteed issue nonresident big game tags went unsold.

That means less money in the coffers. but that's not the biggest problem, Childress said.

"Contrary to what most people would probably think, it isn't just a money-making operation is what we're out here after," Childress said. "Declining participation is not a revenue issue so much for me as it is losing the opportunity to use those hunters as a management source. That's my concern."

New direction

Childress said he recently told his staff that, "I think we need to change our perspective when we think of access."

Instead of looking for answers in more Block Management or another road easement, the agency must take a totally new look at access.

"Because I don't think we'll solve it with the things we have in front of us," Childress said. "And I think that scares a lot of people. But as an agency we have some responsibility to find some management solutions."

FWP, which acknowledges big game populations, particularly elk, are "above objective" in many areas, is currently rewriting its elk management plan.

The agency is pinning a lot of hope on what it calls "community-based management," an initiative to involve local landowners in writing hunting regulations. The idea is to create working groups in different hunting areas to deal with specific issues.

But even that idea faces obstacles, Childress said.

"There are getting to be enough significant land ownerships that really don't care, and they don't see themselves as part of the community," he said.

That applies to resident as well as nonresident owners, he added.

And without landowner cooperation, game managers and hunters have fewer options.

But long-time ranchers like Stevenson, who is on land his grandfather homesteaded nearly a hundred years ago, acknowledge they need some help as well, in controlling game numbers.

"There are a lot of problems here and not many solutions," Stevenson said. "I don't know what's going to happen."

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