FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—JUNE 17, 2011
Contact: Diane Tipton, 406-444-3079, or visit the FWP website at fwp.mt.gov
FWP NEWS FOR JUNE 17
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MONTANA FISH, WILDLIFE & PARKS SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON
PROPOSED QUOTAS AND QUOTA RANGES
REMEMBER TO "INSPECT. CLEAN. DRY."
NEW BOAT VALIDATION DECALS
BECOMING AN OUTDOORS WOMAN SUMMER WORKSHOP SET FOR
AUG. 5-7
GAME DAMAGE ROSTER REGISTRATION UNDERWAY
NEW LOOK FOR FWP WEBSITE
SUPERTAG DEADLINES COMING SOON
KEEP THE TIP-MONT NUMBER HANDY!
SPARE THE LIFE OF A YOUNG WILD ANIMAL
FWP OUTDOORS EXTRA
FISH TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIGH WATER
By Diane Tipton, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Statewide Information Officer
MONTANA FISH, WILDLIFE & PARKS SEEKS PUBLIC COMMENT ON PROPOSED
CHANGES IN QUOTAS AND QUOTA RANGES
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public comment on proposed quotas and quota
ranges for 2011 deer, elk and antelope quota changes, proposed furbearer and bison quotas and
the bison season structure.
Deer
Among the proposed changes is a decrease in antlerless mule deer B licenses in FWP
Region 4 near Great Falls that would affect hunting districts 410, 417, 419 and 426.
A proposed decrease in antlerless B mule deer licenses—007-13—in FWP Region 7 near
Miles City would reduce these previously unlimited licenses to 2,500 throughout FWP Region 7.
Adjustments to the quota ranges are also proposed to align them with the proposed new
quotas.
All other deer quotas would be unchanged from 2010, or be changed within the existing
quota ranges.
PROPOSED ELK AND ANTELOPE QUOTAS
In changes to the elk and antelope quotas, all quotas would be unchanged from 2010
levels, or adjusted within current biennial ranges, except for:
Elk
FWP Region 2
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In hunting district 210:80: increase antlerless B licenses from 300 to 600 and adjust the
quota range to 5 – 600
In hunting district 211-80: increase antlerless B licenses from 150 to 300 and adjust the
quota range to 5 – 300
FWP Region 3
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In hunting district 314-80: decrease antlerless B licenses from 1000 to 200; adjust the
quota range to 200 – 2,000
Antelope
FWP Region 6
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In hunting district 630-00: decrease either sex licenses from 150 to 10; adjust the quota
range to 10 – 500
In hunting district 630-10:decrease doe/fawn licenses from 10 to 5; adjust the quota range
to 5– 200
In hunting district 670-00:decrease either sex licenses from 350 to 25; adjust the quota
range to 25 – 500
In hunting district 670-10:decrease doe/fawn licenses from 25 to 10; adjust the quota
range to 10 – 200
Region 7
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In hunting district 700-00:decrease either sex licenses from 11,000 to 9,000; adjust the
quota range to 9,000 – 15,000
In hunting district 700-10:decrease doe/fawn licenses from 2,000 to 500; adjust the quota
range to 500 –11,000
PROPOSED FURBEARER QUOTAS
The proposed 2011 furbearer quotas are proposed to remain unchanged from 2010 except
the following:
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in trapping district 3 increase the bobcat quota from 200 to 250
in trapping district 5 decrease the bobcat quota from 400 to 300
in trapping district 7 decrease the bobcat quota from 800 to 600
PROPOSED BISON QUOTAS
No quota changes are proposed from the 2010 bison license quotas. There is a proposed
expansion of the Eagle Creek portion of hunting district 385 north of Gardiner. Legislative action
in 2011 makes archery equipment legal during the existing season.
The public comment deadline on the 2011 deer, elk and antelope quota changes is July 11
at 5 p.m. The FWP Commission is scheduled to set final quotas at its July 14 meeting.
The public comment deadline is July 18 at 5 p.m. on the 2011 furbearer quotas and 2011
bison quotas and season structure. The FWP Commission is scheduled to set final quotas at its
Aug. 11 meeting in Helena.
To comment electronically, go to the FWP website at fwp.mt.gov on the Hunting page
under "Opportunity for Public Comment."
Or, write to: FWP – Wildlife Bureau, Attn: Public Comment, POB 200701, Helena, MT
59620-0701.
For more information, call the FWP wildlife office at: 406-444-2612, or visit the FWP
website at: fwp.mt.gov.
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REMEMBER TO "INSPECT. CLEAN. DRY."
“Inspect. Clean. Dry.”
You’ll hear that a lot in Montana again this summer.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the Montana Department of Agriculture encourage
Montanans and visitors to “inspect, clean, and dry,” boats, trailers and fishing gear to “Stop
Aquatic Hitchhikers!”
“Montana’s best defense against invasive species is to inspect, clean, and dry boats,
trailers, and fishing gear after each use," said Eileen Ryce, FWP’s aquatic invasive species
coordinator in Helena.
1)
Inspect—After leaving a lake or stream, inspect your boat, engine, trailer, anchor, waders,
boots, and other fishing and boating gear for mud, water, and vegetation that could carry aquatic
invasive species.
2)
Clean—Completely remove all mud, water, and vegetation you find. Boaters need to drain
boats and use hot water with a pressurized power sprayer, found at most do-it-yourself car
washes. The hot water helps kill organisms and the pressure removes mud and vegetation. No
need to use soap or chemicals.
3)
Dry—Aquatic invaders can survive only in water and wet areas. By draining and drying
your boat and fishing gear thoroughly, you will kill most invasive species. The longer you keep
your boat, trailer, waders and other gear outside in the hot sun between trips, the better.
"If boaters and anglers get into the habit of carrying out this preventative maintenance,
we’ll decrease the number of troubling, unintentional introductions of harmful species in
Montana," Ryce said.
FWP will tour the state this summer setting up boat inspection stations at popular fishing
access sites, boat ramps and on highways and border crossings.
To learn more, visit FWP's website at fwp.mt.gov. Click “Inspect. Clean. Dry.”
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NEW BOAT VALIDATION DECALS
Owners of motorboats, sailboats or personal watercraft need to get new, free 2011-2014
validation decals for their watercraft.
The green decals expired Feb. 28. Boaters who have permanently registered their boats,
sailboats, or PWC must still obtain two free boat validation decals every three years at FWP
regional and area offices, or by going to the FWP website at fwp.mt.gov at Boat Validation
Decals.
Owners who order validation decals on the FWP website will receive the decals in the
mail. A current boat registration receipt issued by the County Treasurer is needed to obtain the
decals.
For new boat or PWC owners, the County Treasurer's office will provide the first set of
validation decals when the watercraft is registered. Boat owners will obtain subsequent sets of
validation decals at a FWP regional or area office, or online.
For more information, go to the FWP Montana Boating Laws web page, or contact FWP
at 406-444-2535.
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BECOMING AN OUTDOORS WOMAN SUMMER WORKSHOP SET FOR AUG. 5-7
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' popular Becoming an Outdoors Woman three-day,
summer workshop is set for Aug. 5-7 at the Lubrecht Experimental Forest camp near Missoula.
Registration is now open and women are encouraged to sign up with a friend and learn a
new activity or improve existing skills.
Participants choose four classes from a variety of topics including basic gun handling,
rifle, shotgun, fishing, map and compass, outdoor cooking, canoeing, plant identification,
outdoor survival, and more. New classes this year include horse packing, butterfly identification
and fishing from float tubes. Anyone 18 years of age or older may participate. The fee is
between $170-230, including meals and lodging.
Women who have attended the BOW summer workshop in the past or who hope to attend
this year for the first time should register now to reserve their place and classes.
For more on the BOW and Beyond BOW workshops scheduled this summer go to
fwp.mt.gov. Click "For Educators & Students." For more information on the three-day summer
workshop, call Liz Lodman at 406-444-9940, or by email: llodman@mt.gov.
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GAME DAMAGE ROSTER REGISTRATION UNDERWAY
Hunters interested in participating in game-damage hunts on private land or possible
management seasons this year have until July 15 to register online with Montana Fish, Wildlife
& Parks.
Prospective hunters must register for the hunt rosters online at fwp.mt.gov . On the
Hunting page, click Game Damage Roster Internet-based registration can be completed on
personal computers, at most public libraries, and at any FWP office. To register, hunters will
need their ALS number.
A final roster, randomly generated from all online registrations, will be posted by Aug. 1.
on the FWP website at fwp.mt.gov.
The hunts, if they occur, could take place anytime from Aug. 15 through Feb. 15, 2012.
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NEW LOOK FOR FWP WEBSITE
Are you searching for a spot to take the family fishing? Will you have the proper hunting
licenses for the fall? Do you need a Montana State Park campsite reservation for the 4th of July?
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks hopes to get you to the information faster than ever
before via its new website homepage at fwp.mt.gov, which was redesigned to create a one-stop
hub of easily accessed information for Montanans and visitors.
"FWP's Web team considered nearly everyone's needs as it hammered out draft after draft
of the new homepage," said Joe Maurier, director of FWP in Helena. "There are links for hunters
and anglers, teachers and students, recreationists and several topical links for folks who are
interested in FWP seasonal programs and issues."
FWP Web team members who worked to redesign the home page include Webmaster
Dustin Jensen, Content Manger Cheryl Aldrich, Web Editor Missing Erving and Computer
Software Engineer Will Martin.
Over the following week, visitors to fwp.mt.gov can offer FWP feedback on the new
hompage. "Whether you're new to the site or a longtime visitor, we'd like to hear from you,"
Maurier said. "The survey takes about two minutes and we’ll use the public feedback to make
additional improvements."
SUPERTAG DEADLINES COMING SOON
Eight lucky SuperTag hunters will win the chance to hunt a moose, bighorn sheep,
mountain goat, elk, deer, antelope, mountain lion and bison in any legal district open for that
species next fall.
You could be one of the winners this year—just purchase one or more $5 SuperTag
chances for the species you are interested in.
The deadline to purchase SuperTags for the moose, sheep and goat hunts is June 30.
SuperTag chances on the deer, elk, antelope, bison and mountain lion hunts must be purchased
by July 28.
SuperTag lottery proceeds go to enhance hunting access and boost FWP enforcement
efforts.
SuperTags are available at all FWP offices, license providers, or online at fwp.mt.gov
using FWP’s online licensing service. To purchase a SuperTag, a current conservation license is
needed.
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KEEP THE TIP-MONT NUMBER HANDY!
Montana’s TIP-MONT "crimestopper" program operates year round to manage reports
of recreation-related violations.
These violations may include boating under the influence of alcohol and drugs; illegal
introductions of fish, bait or other species to Montana waters; and using a boat to harass or kill
game birds or other aquatic fur-bearing animals.
It is also illegal to discharge garbage, refuse, waste or sewage into or near Montana
waters. Montana law requires boats equipped with toilets or porta-potties to dispose of waste
properly. Because there are so few marine pumpout stations in Montana, boaters should check in
advance on the local availability of waste disposal stations.
Anyone who observes a violation in the outdoors should immediately report the details of
the crime to: 1-800-TIP-MONT, or 1-800-847-6668.
If a violation is in progress and you can use a cell phone to report it, wardens are more
likely to apprehend the violator.
To report violations or suspected violations and be eligible for up to a $1,000 reward,
call: 1-800-TIP-MONT. For more information on TIP-MONT, go to the FWP website at
fwp.mt.gov and look on the Enforcement page.
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SPARE THE LIFE OF A YOUNG WILD ANIMAL
In recent days, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has received several calls from people
who picked up deer fawns or moose calves. In one recent case, tourists pursued a moose with a
new born calf to take photographs. The calf was separated from its mother and eventually died
despite efforts to rejoin the two.
Every spring FWP biologists, wardens and other field personnel observe these losses.
Please remember this advice if you see newborn wild animals: "If you care, leave them there."
Do not photograph, move or attempt to feed newborn wildlife. Please also keep dogs on leash
when recreating outdoors this time of year.
To protect Montana's deer and elk from the impending threat of Chronic Wasting Disease
(CWD), FWP is unable to accept, hold, or rehabilitate deer, elk and moose. Should someone
bring a fawn or calf to FWP, it must be returned to the site where it was found, or euthanized.
Other wildlife species, such as birds and small mammals, are also best left in the
wild. Usually, young animals picked up by humans can’t be rehabilitated, and they are often
abandoned by adult animals once humans have become involved.
Numerous incidents have shown that a newborn wild animal's best chance at survival and
a quality life is "If you care, leave them there."
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FISH TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HIGH WATERS
By Diane Tipton, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Statewide Information Officer
Montanans, though battered by weeks of high water and flooding, haven't forgotten to
wonder how the state's fish are faring judging by the questions Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
is receiving.
FWP officials say the answer is generally good—in fact some fish species are already
taking advantage of the high water.
"Fish are well adapted to survive flooding, though they can sometimes be stranded when
high water recedes, depending on where they took refuge," said Bruce Rich, FWP fisheries
bureau chief.
Remember, natural streams and rivers of the not too distant past were a substantially
wilder, more transformative force on the landscape than they are today. They carried soil,
nutrients, and heavy debris for miles, cut new channels during spring runoff, reseeded
cottonwood trees along its river banks and scoured stream bottom gravels providing high-quality
spawning and rearing habitat for fish. Some springs it is hard to imagine all this stream activity,
but not this year.
"In high water like we're seeing this year, fish generally move to the margins of the river
for refuge—to backwater areas, or warmer, less turbid side channels or tributaries," said Mark
Lere, FWP's Future Fisheries Improvement Program coordinator. "Fish might even move out
onto the floodplain when it is inundated, then back into the backwaters and side channels as the
water recedes."
Lere said as water spreads out over the floodplain it tends to warm and pick up nutrients,
providing great growing conditions for everything in the aquatic system--algae, insects, fish and
other aquatic creatures.
Even when water is running muddy and fast, fish are able to orient themselves to the
main channel and find food. Their body shapes and musculature help, but so does a sophisticated
set of organic navigation tools.
"Fish have a sensory mechanism called the lateral line system that they use to navigate,"
said Amber Steed, FWP fisheries biologist in Kalispell. "It is made up of external pores running
from front to back through the fish's midsection that allows the fish to sense movement and
vibration, and changes in flow and water pressure."
This system is a sense organ somewhat analogous to a human's senses. Most amphibian
larvae and some adult amphibians have a type of lateral organ too.
Fish reproduction also benefits as a result of high spring runoff. Fish deposit eggs in river
gravels in what are called "redds." Heavy runoff flushes mud and debris out of these gravels so
fresh, clean water flows through increasing the oxygen available to the embryonic fish that will
develop.
As Montanans everywhere cope with high water and its after effects, it may be some
comfort to anglers and others to know that there will be some future benefits.
-fwpHIGH FLOWS ON PRAIRIE RIVER SYSTEMS AND WARM WATER FISH
By Diane Tipton, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Statewide Information Officer
Montana's prairie stream systems generally have low annual flows. This spring will go
on record as an exception. High water in eastern Montana is making life difficult in area
communities at the same time that it may be enhancing conditions for some of the state's warm
water fish, including the endangered pallid sturgeon.
At least five radio-tagged adult pallid sturgeon are using the Milk River, say Montana
Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologists tracking the pallids. Biologists have determined that at least
one adult male pallid sturgeon has traveled 36 river miles up the Milk from its mouth this spring,
the furthest a pallid has ever been documented upstream in this river.
Another of the pallids in the Milk is a female that is expected to spawn this year. Female
pallid sturgeon will spawn for the first time at about 20 years of age, and then every two to three
years after.
"A naturally spawning pallid sturgeon in the Milk or Missouri River would be very big
news," said Tyler Haddix, FWP fisheries biologist at Fort Peck on the pallid sturgeon team.
Although FWP documented natural spawning in the Yellowstone River in 2009, it has not been
documented in either the Missouri or Milk Rivers.
Pallid sturgeon have been on the federal list of threatened and endangered species since
1990. FWP believes that only about 150 wild produced adult pallid sturgeon survive in the
Yellowstone and lower Missouri River complex. FWP and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have
been producing hatchery-reared pallid sturgeon and stocking them into the Missouri and
Yellowstone rivers since 1998.
"Of all the adult pallid sturgeon that have radio tags—about 45 fish—we're seeing a
significant proportion using the Missouri River this year compared to any previous year we've
studied these fish," Haddix said. "That is a direct result of high, muddy water."
Other benefits of high water and flooding on the flatlands of eastern Montana include
increased production of aquatic insects and other fish food sources.
"Nutrients increase and water temperature goes up—resulting in increased fish growth
and improved winter survival," Haddix said.
Increased production and good survival could mean anglers will see more paddlefish,
shovelnose sturgeon, sauger, and channel catfish in a few years, he said.
"In 2010 on the Milk, another high-water year, FWP documented the best production of
paddlefish in the Milk River and shovelnose sturgeon in the Missouri River in the 11 years that
we have been intensively looking at larval fish production," Haddix said. "This year could be
another high production year for these two species."
Spring 2011 may go down in the record books for a variety of reasons—some of them
tragic. It is good to know the record-breaking events we've observed this spring may have some
positive effects—for Montana's fish populations.
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SIDEBAR:
Q. How do fish navigate?
A. Fish have adapted to the need to navigate high water in spring and to flooding rivers. Many
fish species have a sensory mechanism to orient themselves and to detect what is going on in
their environment called the "lateral line." This system allows fish, when water recedes from an
area, to sense changes in flow and water pressure.
The lateral line provides information to help a fish orient itself to its environment similar to how
a human's sensory systems enables a person to know they are changing elevation, or that
someone is standing right behind them.
Q. What are the main benefits to fish of the spring runoff and occasional flooding?
A. Fish benefit from high water and flooding in multiple ways.
1. High water redistributes gravel otherwise unavailable to fish in other parts of the system
and scours away silt covering the gravel fish need to spawn. Many fish species in
Montana need clean, silt-free gravels to spawn.
2. Runoff typically introduces nutrients to the river system that feed algae, plants, and
insects which in turn feed the fish that live there.
3. Other fish habitat-enhancers, such as root wads, rocks, whole trees, and more may be
brought into the river system and distributed during high runoff. These habitat-enhancers
are important to fish as refuges from the heavy flows, to avoid predators, feed, over
winter and rear young.
4. Runoff in also a cue that it is spring spawning time for fish species such as cutthroat
trout, large-scale suckers, rainbow trout and other species.