Private Lands/Public Wildlife [PLPW], Elk License Proposal
Letter to Allan Charles MT FWP
October 14, 2002
Alan Charles
MDFWP, Field Services
PO Box 200701
Helena, MT 59620
Re: PL/PW, Elk License Proposal
Dear Allan,
Montana is blessed with a diversity of hunting and fishing opportunities brought by decades of achievements in wildlife management paid for by sportsmen dollars through the Wildlife Restoration (Pittman-Robertson) Act and license fees. These opportunities provide a wide range of valuable recreational, social, educational and financial benefits to the state.
Fundamental to these benefits is the fact our wildlife resources belong to everyone.
The history of modern wildlife conservation is especially well known to bowhunters. The destruction of our wildlife resources during the last half of the nineteenth century was due primarily because wildlife had a commercial value. Today, our rich abundance of wildlife is again being eyed by those who would seek to exploit it as a commodity by selling hunting opportunity of public wildlife on private land for exorbitant fees.
The Montana Bowhunters Association (MBA) will oppose the current proposal from the Private Land/Public Wildlife Council to create 100 new landowner sponsored nonresident B-10, either sex elk licenses and 100 new nonresident A-7, antlerless elk licenses to be made available to nonresident hunters sponsored by landowners. In addition, the conditions of the proposal to allow the landowner the opportunity to charge whatever the market will bear puts our hunting heritage at great risk and is unacceptable to the MBA.
While this program offers some limited public access to hunt private property, it is a token effort being used to lure sportsmen and win their support. FWP has demonstrated an inclination, throughout the years, to steadily increase a program year by year once it is accepted into the regulations. While the PL/PW proposal seems somewhat insignificant now, we would expect to see these license numbers escalate in succeeding years as landowners demand equal participation in the program. It offers grave consequences for the typical Montana resident hunter, public wildlife, wildlife management and sportsmen/landowner relations.
Nearly 8 million acres of private land are currently closed to public access in Montana. The Block Management Program offers many hunters their only prospect for a place to hunt. The PL/PW proposal threatens to destroy the Block Management Program. The incentive to participate in Block Management is lost if a landowner knows he can get "high dollar" for the bull elk that reside on his land.
As more and more wildlife come under the control of private management, the role of FWP to manage public wildlife will be diminished. Private management of wildlife will shift from the priority of equal management of all species, to management of species that offer the greatest commercial income potential to the landowner. The sustainable and diverse wildlife populations enjoyed by today's hunters will be lost. The relationship between landowners and sportsmen will further erode as hunters lose their opportunity to hunt on private lands.
The PL/PW proposal is not a solution to the problems confronting the typical family rancher who struggles to maintain a way of life that is subject to the constant threats imposed by a number of uncontrollable forces. The truth is, this proposal constitutes a taking of the public's wildlife resources and hunting opportunities.
Sincerely,
Charlie Johnson
President, Montana Bowhunters Association
