Montana's Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission will meet in the FWP Helena office, 1420 East Sixth Ave., Thursday, April 5 beginning at 1:30 p.m., following a work session from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Work sessions, when FWP staff members share information with the Commission, are open to the public although there is no opportunity for public input at that time.
(Headlines - March 30, 2001)

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, in cooperation with trails management agencies and trail users, recently completed two documents that will chart the future of Montana's state trails.Over 300 comments were received during the public review period last fall and taken into account in the final documents.The documents will be distributed to interested parties the first week in April. Under state law, FWP must wait 15 days following this distribution before considering the documents final.
(Headlines - March 30, 2001)

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will grant approximately $403,556 in federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Program funding to local public outdoor recreation projects this spring.Project applications, due June 30, may include facilities such as ball fields, campgrounds, golf courses, ice skating ponds, picnic facilities, tennis courts, playground equipment, and walking trails.
(Headlines - March 30, 2001)

It's official. Montana's newest State Park is Travelers' Rest State Park south of Missoula near Lolo, bringing the total number of Montana State Parks to 42. "The15-acre property, purchased by an anonymous buyer through a private foundation and donated to FWP, is a treasured and timely addition to the state parks system," said Doug Monger, administrator of FWP's Parks Division.
(Headlines - March 30, 2001)

Increasing encounters with wildlife are inevitable as urban areas expand and rural areas become more populated.But an encounter doesn't have to end as a conflict.Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is sponsoring a series of seminars to help reduce conflicts with wildlife. The "Living With Wildlife" seminars will feature panels of local experts talking about the types of human/wildlife conflicts that can occur and how to avoid them.
(Headlines - March 30, 2001)

A nationally renowned expert on accessible trail design, Peter Axelson, Director of Research and Development for Beneficial Designs, Inc., will speak at the opening session of the Montana State Trails Conference at the Sheraton Hotel in Billings. The conference, April 5-7, will feature trails experts from Montana and other states and field trips to Billings area trails.A Friday evening banquet will feature Hugh Morris and Jeff Ciabotti of the Rails To Trails Conservancy from Washington, DC.
(Headlines - March 30, 2001)

Montana's Capitol Station post office will relocate to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Helena Friday in honor of the agency's centennial anniversary. "We feel privileged to have the U.S. Postal Service recognize FWP's first century of conservation with a special stamp cancellation," said FWP Director Jeff Hagener. "The historic value of this special cancellation ensures thatour state's conservation legacy will long be remembered.
(Headlines - March 29, 2001)

Increasing encounters with wildlife are inevitable as urban areas expand and rural areas become more populated. But an encounter doesn?t have to end as a conflict. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is sponsoring a series of seminars to help reduce conflicts with wildlife. The "Living With Wildlife" seminars will feature panels of local experts talking about the types of human/wildlife conflicts that can occur and how to avoid them.
(Headlines - March 24, 2001)

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks marks 100 years of conservation this month, a celebration that will continue throughout the year. On March 18, 1901, at the urging of Governor John E. Rickards, Montana's seventh Legislature passed, "An Act to provide for the appointment of a State game and fish warden, deputy game and fish wardens and special deputy game and fish wardens?to examine into and inquire about any violation of the game and fish laws of the state." On April 1, 1901 Gov.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

The annual Smith River permit drawing has taken place and the results are in the mail and on the FWP web site at fwp.state.mt.us. "We received 4,258 permit applications this year, and gave out 758 permits," says Joe O'Neill, FWP's Smith River manager. "We had 616 permits go to residents and 142 go to nonresidents as a result of the drawing." The 59-mile scenic float south of Great Falls continues to be very popular. Last year, 4,294 people sent in applications.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

It may seem too early in the year to talk about big game hunting, but the deadline for purchasing a spring bear hunting license is only a month away. Black bear hunters who plan on taking part in the spring season need to purchase a bear license by April 14. Black bear hunting licenses purchased after April 14 cannot be used until the fall black bear hunting season. Hunters may hold only one black bear license per license year.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

Over $230,000 in funding was approved this month by the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission for 18 Montana Future Fisheries Improvement Program projects. The Commission funded projects in areas across Montana, including eight located west of the Continental Divide and 10 located east of the Continental Divide. The fisheries improvements will help westslope cutthroat trout, bull trout, brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout, as well as walleye and yellow perch.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

A Trappers Education course is scheduled in Butte on Saturday, March 24 from 9 a.m. to early afternoon at the Butte Forest Service Building, 1820 Meadow Lark Lane. The course, sponsored by the Montana Trappers Association and FWP, will cover trapping ethics, regulations, equipment, fur handling and other trapping topics. Students will receive a certificate, National Trappers Association handbook, trapping workbook and informational brochures. This course is free of charge and open to the public.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

A Trappers Education course is scheduled in Great Falls for Sunday, April 8 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Region 4 headquarters meeting room, 4600 Giant Springs Rd. The course, sponsored by the Montana Trappers Association and FWP, will cover trapping ethics, regulations, equipment, fur handling and other trapping topics. Students will receive a certificate, National Trappers Association handbook, trapping workbook and informational brochures.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

Montana's spring turkey gobbler season opens Saturday, April 7, and closes Sunday, May 6. While the application deadline for special spring turkey permits has come and gone, there are ample opportunities to hunt gobblers in the "general turkey hunting areas" that extend across the eastern half of Montana.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

Introducing a young person to turkey hunting will more than double the pleasure of the experience, according to Darlene Edge, Land Agent in FWP's Lands Division. Edge is also an instructor for FWP's popular "Becoming and Outdoors Woman" programs and regularly takes a young friend hunting with her. "Kids love the extra attention and the chance to learn new things," she says.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

Montana's 2001 bighorn sheep auction license was put on the block at the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep's annual convention held in Reno, Nevada and went for the highest bid of $100,000. FWP received $90,000 of that amount to be used to secure key habitat and to bolster research efforts on bighorn sheep, as well as to conduct trapping and transplanting. FNAWS keeps 10 percent of the funds to administer their bighorn sheep grant program.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

Handling firearms safely, wildlife conservation, laws and sportsmanship will be some of the topics covered in a Hunter Education class offered for adult women March 30 - April 1 at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch west of Dupuyer. The class is sponsored by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' "Becoming an Outdoors-Woman" program and taught by certified Hunter Education instructors.
(Headlines - March 16, 2001)

A better trout-fishing experience for all anglers is the aim of a new rule that will reduce crowding problems and emerging social conflicts on two popular blue ribbon trout streams in southwestern Montana. The rule, which will go into effect in May, will better distribute angling and floating pressure on the Big Hole and Beaverhead rivers by allocating specific days, river stretches, and access points for resident use, commercially-guided float trips and nonresident anglers.
(Headlines - March 14, 2001)

A Toston man was sentenced last week in Townsend for felony possession of an unlawfully taken bighorn sheep. District Court Judge Dorothy McCarter placed 39 year-old David Arnold Liefert on felony probation for five years, and ordered him to pay $30,000 in restitution to the state. Additionally, Liefert will forfeit his Montana hunting and fishing privileges for three years. In January of 2000, the head of a male big horn sheep was discovered in an abandoned building outside of Radersburg.
(Headlines - March 02, 2001)

In anticipation of another drought year, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is providing an opportunity for funding to assist private landowners, watershed groups and others to act now to help Montana's fisheries survive the low stream flows associated with drought.
(Headlines - March 02, 2001)

The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission approved acquisition of a prime Fishing Access Site on Big Spring Creek, west of Lewistown. The 50-acre site has almost three quarters of a mile of creek frontage and is located on Highway 426 halfway between the Old Carroll Trail FAS and the Hruska FAS.
(Headlines - March 02, 2001)

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reminds recreationists that all 2000 hunting and fishing licenses expired at midnight on Wednesday, February 28. To fish or pursue any game animals during scheduled seasons from March 1 of this year through Feb. 28, 2002, hunters and anglers will need to have new 2001licenses. New licenses are now on sale at all FWP offices or may be obtained from FWP license agents around the state.
(Headlines - March 02, 2001)

Handling firearms safely, wildlife conservation, laws and sportsmanship will be some of the topics covered in a Hunter Education class offered for adult women. The class will be March 30 through April 1 at the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch west of Dupuyer. At the class, which begins Friday at noon and concludes Sunday afternoon, participants will have an opportunity to shoot rifles and shotguns and take part in field exercises simulating a hunting experience.
(Headlines - March 02, 2001)

Rules on the purchase and sale of game birds in the state were recently amended by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks to clarify that individuals who purchase live game birds must have the appropriate permit or license.
(Headlines - March 02, 2001)