With nearly 65 percent of the
states land held in private ownership, landowners
are central to the work of conserving Montanas
wildlife, fish and important habitats.
Landowners help strengthen
Montanas traditions by providing public hunting
and fishing access to their lands and by helping
to preserve key recreational and historical sites.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is committed
to working with Montanas landowners through a variety
of programs that acknowledge and support their role
in maintaining Montanas rich conservation legacy.
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Block
Management Program
Goal: Provide
public hunting access to private lands.
Benefit: FWP
offers incentives to encourage public hunting access
to private land and assists landowners in managing
public hunting activities on lands under their control.
Details: Incentives
include compensation to offset public hunting access
impacts (up to $12,000 per cooperator), limited
liability coverage, livestock loss reimbursement,
and a complimentary resident Sportsmans License
or, for nonresidents, a Big Game Combination Licens,
in lieu of compensation. To assist landowners with
hunter management, FWP may provide tools such as
maps, signs, permission slips, and in some cases,
seasonal staff to patrol and assist hunters. FWP
negotiates cooperative agreements with landowners
to identify how hunting will be managed and what
sort of hunting will be allowed.
Contact:
FWP Field Services
406-444-2602
Or your regional FWP office
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Access Montana Program
Goal: Improve
hunting access to public lands and resolve public
land access conflicts.
Benefit: FWP
works with landowners to address hunting access
conflicts involving state and federal lands, in
some cases developing access agreements with willing
landowners.
Details: FWP
works with landowners, hunters, and land management
agencies to attempt to resolve public land access
conflicts. FWP also works with willing landowners
to develop public land access agreements which may
include incentives such as fencing, cattle guards,
culverts, gates, signing or maps to identify land
ownership boundaries, increased FWP enforcement,
and in some cases, compensation.
Contact:
FWP Field Services
406-444-2602
Or your regional FWP office
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Livestock
Loss Reimbursement Program
Goal: Maintain
public hunting access to private land.
Benefit: A landowner
may be reimbursed for livestock killed or injured
as a result of allowing public hunting on lands
under the landowners control.
Details: Eligible
landowners who suffer livestock loss or injury as
a result of allowing public hunting on private property
during legal hunting seasons may be reimbursed for
their losses, depending upon the circumstances.
Contact:
FWP Field Services
406-444-2602
Or your regional FWP office
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Game
Damage Program
Goal: Assist
landowners experiencing game damage.
Benefit: FWP
assists landowners in preventing or reducing damage
caused to crops or property by game animals.
Details: Landowners
may be eligible for game damage assistance if they
allow public hunting during established hunting
seasons. Assistance may include hazing, repellants,
temporary or permanent stackyard fencing, damage
hunts, kill permits, or supplemental game damage
licenses. Landowners may report game damage to
the local game warden, FWP biologist or FWP regional
office.
Contact:
FWP Field Services
406-444-2602
Or your regional FWP office
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Special
Landowner License and Permit Provisions
Goal: Recognize
landowners for their role in conserving Montana's
fish and wildlife resources.
Benefit: Landowners
have opportunities to receive licenses or permits,
and to sponsor hunters to hunt on their deeded land.
Details: The
following landowner license and permit provisions
exist under state law:
- Landowner
Preference: Fifteen percent of each hunting
district quota for deer B and antelope licenses,
and for deer permits is set aside for landowners
owning, or contracting to purchase, 160 acres
or more of land used primarily for agriculture
and located in that hunting district. Fifteen
percent of each hunting district quota for elk
licenses and permits is set aside for landowners
owning, or contracting to purchase, 640 or more
acres of land used by elk in that hunting district.
- Landowner
Sponsor: Two thousand nonresident Deer Combination
Licenses are set aside for deer hunters sponsored
by Montana landowners to hunt deer on the sponsors
deeded land. Landowners who own 640 or more contiguous
acres are eligible to sponsor hunters. Licenses
are distributed equally, up to two sponsored hunters
per landowner, before the remaining licenses are
issued in a random drawing.
Contact:
FWP Licensing Bureau
406-444-2950
Or your regional FWP office
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Habitat Montana
Goal: Preserve
and restore important habitat for fish and wildlife.
Benefit: FWP
offers incentives to landowners to conserve habitat
on private land, including, in some cases, the purchase
of a conservation easement.
Details: Landowners
interested in using a conservation easement to protect
traditional farm and ranch land, and to preserve
natural resources such as wildlife habitat, may
partner with FWP. A variety of funding sources enable
FWP to protect seriously threatened habitats and
provide recreational opportunities through purchased
or donated conservation easements and purchases
of land. Annually, about $4 million from several
sources goes to fund projects selected by the Montana
Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission from among
those recommended by the FWP staff. In addition
to monetary compensation, landowners may: realize
tax benefits from a conservation easement; gain
help in pursuing habitat-friendly agricultural practices;
and ensure the protection of scenic and open spaces.
Contact:
FWP Wildlife Division
406-444-2612
Or your regional FWP office
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Montana Fishing Access Site
Program
Goal: Increase
public access to Montana waters.
Benefit: Landowners
with suitably located lands may be compensated for
providing public fishing access.
Details: Landowners
with land in suitable locations may receive compensation
for working with FWP to provide public fishing access.
Lands may be purchased, or leased under a contractual
agreement. Funds for the Fishing Access Site Program
are generated by fishing license sales and through
other means under Montana law. The programs aim
is to acquire sites
within a four-hour float distance of each other
on Montanas larger rivers and to increase fishing
access to smaller streams.
Contact:
FWP Fisheries Division
406-444-2449
Or your regional FWP office
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Upland Game Bird
Habitat Enhancement Program
Goal: Increase
upland game bird habitat and hunting access.
Benefit: Landowners
can benefit from a cost-sharing program while improving
their land and making it more inviting for Montanas
upland game birds.
Details: Landowners
may work with FWP biologists to develop upland game
bird habitat projects and FWP will share up to 75
percent of the project costs. These projects may
include establishing and maintaining shelterbelts,
planting nesting cover and food plots and implementing
improved grazing management systems. Projects
must be open to some free public game bird hunting
and usually involve at least 160 contiguous acres
of land.
Contact:
FWP Upland Game Bird
Habitat Enhancement Program
406-444-2612
Or your regional FWP office
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Upland
Game Bird Release Program
Goal: Increase
pheasant and turkey populations.
Benefit: Landowners
may increase or establish pheasant and wild turkey
populations on their lands.
Details: Landowners
who allow some degree of public hunting on at least
100 contiguous acres may be reimbursed for raising
and releasing pheasants. Or, FWP may fund the release
of pheasants on suitable lands at no cost to the
landowner. FWP may also release wild, free-ranging
turkeys in suitable wild turkey habitat in cooperation
with private landowners who agree to allow public
hunting. Game bird release agreements are negotiated
annually.
Contact:
FWP Upland Game Bird
Release Program
406-444-2612
Or your regional FWP office
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Montana
Wetlands Legacy Program
Goal: Create
and protect wetlands.
Benefit: Through
the Wetlands Legacy Program, FWP helps link landowners
who own wetlands and riparian areas with the experts
who know how to preserve them and with potential
project funding sources.
Details: Working
with FWP and the Wetlands Legacy Program, landowners
may develop projects to protect, conserve and develop
wetlands on their property. The projects can increase
the lands value, while creating healthy, functional
wetlands. Landowners may also receive direct funding
for the project, materials or construction work,
or technical assistance in identifying funding sources,
depending on the situation. The program is a partnership
between FWP and national, state, and local conservation
organizations and agencies, and interested landowners
and land managers. The Montana Wetlands Legacy
aims to protect or restore 250,000 acres of wetlands
and riparian areas by 2005.
Contact:
FWP Montana Wetlands
Legacy Coordinator
406-994-7889
Or your regional FWP office
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Future
Fisheries Improvement Program
Goal: Improve
habitat for wild and native fish.
Benefit: FWP
assists landowners in planning and financing projects
that improve native and wild fish habitat.
Details: FWP
biologists, landowners and other partners develop
project proposals that, for example, restore stream
banks and natural stream channels, improve stream
flow, prevent loss of fish into diversions, improve
fish passage, or enhance fish spawning. Projects
demonstrate that healthy streams can be compatible
with agricultural and livestock operations. About
$1 million is available annually to fund these projects.
Landowners and other project partners usually share
in the project costs. A 13-member citizen panel
recommends project proposals to the Montana Fish,
Wildlife & Parks Commission for final approval
twice a year.
Contact:
FWP Fisheries Division
406-444-2449
Or your regional FWP office
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