Cleared of allegations, FWP fisheries chief resigns

Laura Lundquist

(Missoula Current) Two days after Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks leadership announced that Fisheries Chief Eileen Ryce would be allowed to return to her job, Ryce submitted her resignation.

On Thursday, Ryce sent a letter of resignation to FWP Chief of Staff Melissa Watson that took FWP leadership to task for putting her on administrative leave on May 17 for what she called “baseless allegations.”

“Beyond the baseless allegations against me, the fact that the Directors Office has offered to allow me to continue in my position as Fisheries Division Administrator indicates that I have addressed any significant concerns that you raised in this process, and I believe an unbiased observer would agree,” Ryce wrote. “Sadly, this tortured process could have been avoided had the decision been initially made to simply sit down and talk through this in a professional manner. I again question the motivations of the Directors Office against a career employee that has never been directly or indirectly warned of improper behavior.”

Near the end of business on May 17, wardens publicly escorted Ryce out of FWP headquarters in Helena after Director Dustin Temple placed her on administrative leave. FWP gave no explanation for her removal. A subsequent investigation was recently completed and cleared Ryce of any claims of discriminatory and retaliatory behavior, according to sources inside FWP.

In the meantime, supporters created a GoFundMe webpage to raise $10,000 for Ryce’s legal defense. On the webpage, organizers wrote, “Eileen takes pride in being responsive to the public and is strongly supported by anglers across the State. After all she has done for Montana’s fisheries, it is now our turn to ‘have her back.’” Within two weeks, 176 sportsmen and former FWP employees flocked to the page, raising almost $14,000.

In an email written to FWP employees late Tuesday afternoon, Watson said Ryce would be “reengaging her role as Division Administrator as early as Thursday, Aug. 1.”

So that’s when Ryce resigned, saying Watson had publicized Ryce’s return 10 minutes after Ryce herself was notified without giving her “time to respond to proposed conditions of employment.”

“I question the motivation in taking this unprofessional approach that put me in an exceptionally awkward position with fellow employees,” Ryce wrote.

Ryce took over as fisheries chief in 2016 after having managed the Aquatic Invasive Species Program from 2004 to 2011, after which she took over the Hatchery Bureau. With her Scottish brogue and calm demeanor, she successfully presented many projects to the Legislature and the FWP commission over the years. She was a proponent of research and native fisheries but she also supported Montana’s anglers in preserving their favorite fishing spots and species.

In her resignation letter, she said she would still like to receive her 20-year service award.

Ryce’s resignation is another in a long line of resignations by FWP employees since the Gianforte administration took over. In Missoula’s FWP Region 2, former Wildlife Chief Mike Thompson had been put through a similar process of being placed on administrative leave in December 2021 after receiving accusations of “inadequate supervision.” Thompson also retired on short notice in January 2022 after being returned to his position.

“My suspension cited ‘failure to adequately supervise my direct reports’ and ‘breaches of chain of command.’ I didn’t know we were at war. People who know me would — and have — recognized my misdeeds as being well within the norm of my 41 years of FWP service. I am not hard to correct. A direct conversation would’ve sufficed,” Thompson wrote in a Jan. 12 Missoulian letter.

Since then, several other FWP professionals have been placed on leave only to resign after settling employment disputes with FWP or they resign once they've returned to work. Others have chosen to leave their positions for other employment opportunities.

Last fall, the legislative audit committee released a performance audit of FWP’s enforcement division. The audit found communication issues, low morale and a lack of trust between the FWP’s wardens and the leadership in Helena. Temple concurred with all the findings.

The Legislative Audit Division is supposed to follow up on the audit within a year so another report is due soon. Also the Audit Division is starting work on a new audit of FWP’s human resources division.