Montana Citizens Elk Coalition Forming

[Schaaf]

Guest view: Citizens' elk coalition forming

Elk hunting is everything to Montanans. We guard our vacation days with jealousy in anticipation of elk camp deep in the forests or Breaks country. We choose our sick days

mtstandard.com

For more than 150 years, Montanans have worked together to find consensus paths forward that keep the public trust intact and ensure that future generations of Montanans will have the same opportunities to fill their freezers. While some elected leaders may benefit from conflict, we believe that most Montanans are tired of it; it’s time to sit down together, without interference from politicians and narrow, big-moneyed interests, and find a better path forward.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I’m in.

-Gerald Martin- President of the Martin family and the Joe Average Elk Hunter Society.

 

[Ben Lamb]

In case folks can't get past the firewall for the Op-ed:

Elk hunting is everything to Montanans. We guard our vacation days with jealousy in anticipation of elk camp deep in the forests or Breaks country. We choose our sick days wisely and work hard for just the chance of harvesting an elk. Elk hunting is where our families make memories and traditions while hoping to fill the freezer for the coming winter. Even our clothing reflects our love of hunting elk on public lands. Unfortunately, these traditions are in danger of changing forever or, in some cases, disappearing forever.
Private lands are changing hands, access to prime hunting land is becoming more difficult, and elk congregate where they know they are safe. Meanwhile, a Montana public land hunter has a roughly 13% chance of putting a bull elk in a freezer, and according to FWP data, one district in NW Montana takes more than 530 hunter days to harvest a single elk. Six months of constant pressure from hunters, more gates and no trespassing signs than ever, changing habitat, increased development on winter range, and the monetization of the resource has created quite the predicament.

Further complicating the issue is the fact that our wildlife — as guaranteed by Montana's constitution — is publicly owned, and their management is to be a shared responsibility. They are not to be owned and sold by private interests.
Dramatic changes in elk management have Montanans concerned. But, unfortunately, on top of all of the other factors, political opportunism impacting our wildlife management has become the standard operating procedure for the Legislature. Since 2011, 489 bills have been introduced on wildlife issues, and 906 bills have been drafted. That doesn’t count the budget bills that would defund wildlife management or habitat work, legislation that threatened public lands, bills that tried to eliminate the citizens' voice in management decisions while amplifying the power of politicians and the unelected bureaucrats that are beholden to them.

As we saw during the last legislative session, politicians continue to think they know better than Montanans who spend months outdoors hunting, fishing, and exploring our public lands. Think tanks spend countless hours and dollars spinning new ways to make Montana more like Texas, where wildlife is a commodity and not part of the public trust. This isn't the Montana way. Conflict and anger might be potent political currencies of our times, but it doesn’t have to be, at least not for Montana's elk.

For more than 150 years, Montanans have worked together to find consensus paths forward that keep the public trust intact and ensure that future generations of Montanans will have the same opportunities to fill their freezers. While some elected leaders may benefit from conflict, we believe that most Montanans are tired of it; it’s time to sit down together, without interference from politicians and narrow, big-moneyed interests, and find a better path forward.

Our elk management must return to being for all Montanans, not just the wealthy. We don't expect elk hunting ever to be easy. Like so many things in life, Montanans know we'll have to earn it. But our opportunity should always remain. Help us keep it that way. To ensure that our voices — and your voice — are heard, we are forming a coalition to develop a citizens elk management proposal. To learn more, and become involved in this effort, visit www.montanaelk.org.

Marcus Strange, Director of State Policy and Government Relations Montana Wildlife Federation, Helena
Garrett Ouldhouse, President Anaconda Sportsmen’s Club, Anaconda
Jeremy Garness, President Great Falls Archery Club, Great Falls
Nick Siebrase, Conservation Director Bearpaw Bowmen, Havre
Justin Schaaf, President Keep It Public
JW Westman, Conservation Director Laurel Rod & Gun Club, Laurel
Bill Siebrase, President Bridger Bowmen, Bozeman
John B. Sullivan III, Board Chair Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Missoula
Kathy Hadley Montana Artemis Alliance, Missoula
Jim Vashro, President Flathead Wildlife Inc., Kalispell
Andrew McKean, Former Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Glasgow, MT
Les Castren, President Skyline Sportsmen’s Association, Butte
Joey Bauman, President Park County Rod and Gun Club, Livingston
Walker Conyngham, President Hellgate Hunters and Anglers, Missoula
Tony Jones, President Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association, Hamilton
Steve Platt, President Helena Hunters and Anglers, Helena
Dane Rider, Secretary Traditional Bowhunters of Montana, Dillon
Clint Nagel, President Gallatin Wildlife Association, Bozeman

 

[Hammsolo]

The Montana Citizen’s Elk Porposal


The short cut…

 

[Ben Lamb]

This is odd: https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management

Seems like the elk management page is the only one on the FWP website that has nothing on it. Wonder if that's intentional.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Since the actual EMP webpage is nuked, here's a copy of the 2005 EMP

 

[Ben Lamb]

The EMP has been uploaded to the MTElk.org website since FWP doesn't seem to have it on theirs anymore.

There's also a donation page. Funds donated will go to an account managed by the Montana Wildlife Federation specifically for this coalition. Your donation will not be used outside of this campaign. Donations will help pay for a slate of in-person meetings with landowners, outfitters, other organizations as well as presentations across the state, and ultimately, for a lobbyist to be at the 2023 session to work on this issue.

A mountain of work has gone into this coalition so far and it's still being developed and grown. if you represent an organization that wants to be a part of this coalition, use the contact us page to email them & get set up. If you are an individual who wants to be part of this effort, sign up as others have.

The groups that have put their time, sweat, and money into this are in it for the long haul. It's 110% worth supporting.

 

[Dinkshooter]

error on the donation page won't let me complete it, something to do with the captcha

 

[Dinkshooter]

or I could just use the $35 and send the Wilkes a bag of d&^%@ on my own? j/K!

 

[Ben Lamb]

error on the donation page won't let me complete it, something to do with the captcha

or I could just use the $35 and send the Wilkes a bag of d&^%@ on my own? j/K!

I support both options. Flagged for the web folks.

 

[mtmiller]

error on the donation page won't let me complete it, something to do with the captcha

Same issue. Let me know when it gets rolling.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Donate page has been fixed.

 

[Borny1]

I just tried and got the captcha error.

 

[Jonesy125]

Same error on captcha, in addition to funds are there other ways to help?

 

[Ben Lamb]

Yeah, it's still south of cheese. Working on it.

There's a form on the website that will sign you up for emails, etc so you can keep up to date.

Over 100 folks have signed up today, not too bad.

Montana Citizens’ Elk Management Coalition

www.montanaelk.org

 

[Unlucky]

Tell u what. Devote everything to publuc elk hunting. No special interest like rmef and iam in. Really i think a public elk foundation makes rmef obsolete to 90% of people

 

[Straight Arrow]

Tell u what. Devote everything to publuc elk hunting. No special interest like rmef and iam in. Really i think a public elk foundation makes rmef obsolete to 90% of people

Oranges and watermelons.

 

[Sytes]

Donations are still down though signed and attempting to donate to a great cause.



Tried again. Even though this is present, I receive the same error above.

 

[Bambistew]

This is odd: https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/wildlife-management

Seems like the elk management page is the only one on the FWP website that has nothing on it. Wonder if that's intentional.

all that info was wiped off about a year ago. All the maps, the plan, etc. I feel bad for the hunters of MT. Elk hunting has been on a downward spiral since the "plan" was implemented. The wolf has taken the brunt of the heat, and most hunters in MT are clueless. I don't know how many people I've told, that you could kill off every wolf, lion and coyote and they wouldn't have any more elk to kill/hunt because most areas are over objective.

Best of luck.

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Love the idea of the coalition. I hope it can develop into something that can not only provide suggestions for Government decision makers, but actually gain an influence with them. I'm afraid that recent history has shown that reason, science and good ideas, no matter how valid, are not what's inspiring them now.

Donors and votes (probably in that order because often the first leads to the second) seem to have the most influence.

I genuinely hope this coalition can be a seed to inspire further influence.