Several people and entities reported about ten days ago that Montana’s FWP was going to forward their proposed Madison River Recreation Plan and Administrative Rules to the Fish and Wildlife Commission for review at their upcoming 19 April meeting. I held off commenting here as we’ve had an earful of commentary flowing in expressing grave concerns about the Plan as it was written.
From the FWP press release 10 April (emphasis mine) –
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is proposing a recreation management plan and administrative rules for the Madison River. The proposal is set to be presented at the next meeting of the Fish and Wildlife Commission as a first step in addressing increasing concerns about crowding and social conflict on the river.
At its April 19 meeting, the Commission will not be deciding on the proposal, only whether to allow the Department to seek public input on the proposal as a start to the process.
The proposed plan addresses the Madison River in southwest Montana from the outlet of Quake Lake to its confluence with the Jefferson River near Three Forks.
It is intended to improve the recreational experience for all users by reducing crowding and social conflicts. As such, it is strictly a recreation management plan, not a resource management plan.
The proposed plan comes as a response to years of public input in the form of surveys, scoping meetings, and informal comments indicating a decline in the user experience on the Madison. Specifically, users expressed concern about crowding both on the river and at access points, the level of commercial outfitting and the impact of the increasing numbers of visitors to the Madison.
Here’s the Escalation Part
The plan’s been months and months in development, and Montana’s FWP typically does a fairly good job of gathering input from stakeholders involved in publicly used recreation resources.
However in this case, reaction from the outfitter and guide community was swift, pointed, and vehement; we’ve been chatting with a number of friends and acquaintances who spend much if not all of their professional time on the Madison system, and the data and comments they’ve shared have been damned impressive.
For instance, looking simply at angler use days on the Madison from 2017 (FWP sourced, provided by guide friend) –
2017 total angler use days – 177,000
2017 commercial use – 22,500 which is roughly 11,000 guide trips. That number comes from FWP.
The public use on the river is 150,000 use days.
And perhaps at the very heart of the matter, this quote from a friend (a very busy guide/outfitter who for obvious reasons shall remain nameless at this point) –
Not allowing boats in the wade stretch and only allowing three guides per outfitter in there per day will push more guides to the float stretch where we will be limited as well. Not allowing boats in the wade stretch will privatize the Big Bend and land lock the chunk of State Land that the Big Bend sits on. Rarely do most of us guide this anymore, but having access to it is of the utmost importance. I know for a fact that the private land owners in the big bend are the main folks pushing this agenda. FWP should be doing what’s good for majority of anglers, not what’s good for those folks. Folks who yell at anglers for being in “their” water, folks who put up no trespassing signs on state land and also tell anglers they are trespassing when said angler is on state land.
Apparently given a flood of feedback along the lines of that above, on 19 April the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously rejected the proposed regs and sending them on to a period of open public comment.
Standing Alone on the Wrong Side of the Fence: Madison River Foundation
While I wasn’t at the meeting, I’ve talked to several who were, and it appears the comments received were overwhelming in opposition to the plan, prompting the Commission to vote 4-0 to reject the plan (Dan Vermillion, outfitter, abstained from the vote).
Media reporting on the meeting has been predictable (see the milquetoast Bozeman Daily Chronicle missive on the issue here), though to the person everyone we’ve interacted with, who actually fishes (and works) on the Madison, has breathed a huge sigh of relief – except the Madison River Foundation.
The MRF fired out an email the day of the Commission meeting saying this in part (posted now on their website here) –
Today the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission voted against sending the Madison Recreation Plan to public comment. Myself and the board of directors think that was the wrong decision and we are extremely disappointed. Sending the plan to public comment would have allowed for input from all users and a plan to be in place for 2019, that now will not happen.
The Madison Recreation Plan as it was proposed was a good step forward in preserving, protecting and enhancing the Madison River as it makes protecting the river resources a first priority. The board of directors was supportive of the proposed plan because:
- Removing glass from the river is good for the river both environmentally and safety.
- The fishing regulations have prohibited fishing from a boat or vessel from the outlet of Quake Lake to Lyons Bridge and from Ennis Bridge to Ennis Lake since 1988 to reduce conflict between walk/wade anglers and float anglers. Enforcing this regulation will enhance wade fisherman’s access to the river as the original regulation had intended.
- The proposed regulations on Special Recreation Permit holders are good for maintaining the quality of the river resources and the quality of the recreational experience for all.
FWP Region 3 Fisheries Manager, Travis Horton said “there is a threshold where use could start affecting fish population, but we don’t know where that threshold is”, he is right and FWP took the right approach in producing a fair, well researched plan that included public input. The commission and those who voiced opposition have put the Madison River fishery in jeopardy.
We’ve long supported the MRF and their mission, and have noted for years the good things they’ve done for the river, but they’re absolutely on the wrong side of the issue here if they’re going to dig in and argue the failed Rec Plan was a fair and equatable solution to the “love the river to death” problem of increasing angler days on the river.
I’d sure hope the MRF can see the light on this issue, though when your bread is apparently being buttered by the wealthy enclave at the head of the Madison River Valley, your vision – and judgement – very potentially gets clouded.
Functionally privatizing sections of beloved rivers may play in other states, but that dog don’t hunt in Montana. The Madison needs and deserves a real Recreation Plan to allow the resource to flourish, but leaving 80% of the river’s users out of a management schema and targeting outfitters and guides (representing a very clear minority of angler days on the river) ain’t the answer.
