As I write this in mid-March, my hometown of Choteau is about to hold its annual Wild Wings Festival celebrating the incredible waterfowl migration through Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area. If you haven’t experienced tens of thousands of snow geese erupting from the prairie and filling the skies at the foot of the rugged Rocky Mountain Front just south of Choteau, it’s a sight (and sound) you won’t ever forget. The festival is timed to overlap the peak of the migration, which is regarded as one of the world’s great bird specta cles. In Choteau, that’s both a major point of pride and an economic force as thousands of birders flock in, buying meals and booking hotel rooms while visiting. Seeing my hometown rally around Freezout and the wonder of the bird migration is yet another prime example of how wildlife and the outdoors unite us all. They bond communities and bring us together in a way that’s not controversial or political. An event like this is simply something we can all agree is really cool. I suspect I now carry a little extra pride for Freezout since taking the reins last December as director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. FWP stewards this 11,333-acre wildlife management area, one of the most famous of our 70 WMAs. We also manage 56 state parks and roughly 350 river access sites, not to mention hundreds of fish and wildlife species. It’s these places and species that make outdoor recreation one of the biggest economic drivers in the state. Love of the outdoors is why we live in or visit Montana, and it’s woven into the fabric of our communities. As director I’ve also come to appreciate how deeply rooted our staff are in towns large and small across the state. I recently traveled to Bozeman to join Governor Greg Gianforte in honoring two brave FWP employees, James Washburn and JD Douglas, with the state’s Outstanding Service Award for their exceptional response to a fatal traffic accident near Townsend in February. Washburn, a Block Management technician in FWP’s Region 3, was the first to arrive at the scene of the accident. Without hesita tion he began administering first aid. Douglas, the assistant chief of Enforcement, arrived soon after and worked alongside Washburn to manage the scene with courage and professionalism. Their leader ship provided crucial support in a tragic moment and helped ensure that emergency personnel could do their jobs more effectively. After receiving the award, Washburn said he and Douglas were just neighbors helping neighbors, and he’s proud of how his work with FWP allows him to serve not just the general public but also his local community. To me that shows why the work we do is so important to the Treasure State. We manage fish, wildlife, and parks that are indispensable to communities large and small, and we do it as vital members of those same communities. Washburn noted one challenge of working in a small town is that everywhere you go, people try to feed you pie and coffee. “Not always good for my figure,” he said. Yet his underlying message really hit home for me. Here in Helena, we do our best to communicate with the public using various platforms, including the pages of this magazine. But nothing matches having good people in communities across Mon tana building relationships that span years or even decades. FWP employees are available to answer questions and help relay thoughts and concerns, and they are also there to help in the face of sudden challenges and true emergencies like Washburn and Douglas did so bravely.

~Christy Clark, FWP Director