Laura Lundquist
Money vs. Management: Montana hunters side with FWP against property rights group
After some large landowners in eastern Montana sued the state wildlife agency over elk hunting regulations, Montana’s hunting groups have entered the legal fray to defend equitable hunting.
Open space trail opens new route to Mount Dean Stone above Missoula
In association with National Trails Day, the Five Valleys Land Trust will officially open the House of Sky Trail and the Skyline Ridge Trailhead at the head of the West Fork Deer Creek drainage.
Fish and Wildlife Service to consider Yellowstone bison protections
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it completed a 90-day review of three petitions to list the Yellowstone bison as threatened or endangered and found them credible. So protection of bison in Montana and Wyoming may be warranted.
Swan groups: USFWS ignored how road increase affects Flathead grizzlies
Two environmental groups are taking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service back to court over the Flathead National Forest’s reduced efforts to keep roads to a minimum in grizzly country.
Judge: Wolverine listing stands during USFWS re-evaluation of science
While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spends another 18 months considering protections for the wolverine, it must keep a previous science-based finding that wolverines need protection, according to the courts.
Coalition renews request for fisheries task force as drought worsens
For the second year, a conservation coalition is asking Montana’s governor to create a task force to protect the struggling streams and fisheries of southwestern Montana. With the current drought outlook, the need is just as great as it was last year.
Montana FWP fishing regulations to see more frequent review
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is changing its process to review and publish fishing regulations every two years instead of every four. Montana Trout Unlimited is backing the shift so that fewer regulations are changed after the fact.
Web-based tourism complicates efforts to reduce grizzly conflicts
Of the 272 conflict calls biologists received in 2021, more than a third were related to unnatural foods, including garbage and pet food.
FWP wildlife chief reassigned
On Wednesday, sources inside Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks revealed that Wildlife Administrator Ken McDonald has been assigned different responsibilities. McDonald reportedly will now be heading up a “habitat lease program.”
Lawsuit challenges logging project that threatens Cabinet-Yaak grizzlies
The 56,000-acre project would log more than 5,000 acres over 10 years – including 57 acres of old-growth forest and 14 clearcuts of more than 40 acres, with one exceeding 220 acres – for the purpose of harvesting 29 million board-feet of lumber.