An article in the July 10 edition of the Missoulian reported on possible restrictions on the West Fork of the Bitterroot River for next season. FWP personnel communicated on surveys from that stretch of river that indicated crowding and the recreating public was being displaced.
FWP stated in the article that the state has no way to determine the amount of commercial use on the river. This is particularly interesting, because all commercial boats are required to display a red tag (albeit small) while operating. I wrote FWP Region 2 last season and suggested vehicle tags or hangars indicating whether the vehicle was being used in a commercial operation. That way, FWP personnel could simply count vehicles at launches and take-outs. Currently, every outfitter is responsible for turning in a log book, with specific dates and stretches of rivers used, to the Montana Board of Outfitters every season by Dec 31; surely FWP has access to that data. And, if the red boat tags are for identification, why is it not possible to determine the amount of commercial use?
FWP convened a focus group consisting of Trout Unlimited, guides and outfitters and the Ravalli County Fish and Game Association. FWP’s Christine Oschell said: “Everyone wants something similar to what’s been implemented on the Big Hole and Beaverhead Rivers. I can guarantee it’s not going to look exactly like that.” The Beaverhead and Big Hole rules, popular with the public, create citizen’s days that give the private angler one day a week, on specific stretches, free of the competitive atmosphere of commercial fishing. Another question: if everyone wanted that, why guarantee it won’t happen?
At the end of the article, FWP hopes it can “stop the bleeding” before next season. I worked on a statewide committee on river crowding with FWP over 15 years ago. When I was on the Region 2 Citizens Advisory Committee five to six years ago, members from Ravalli County were asking for something to be done on the West Fork. The “bleeding,” aka crowding and displacement, has been going on for awhile.
The Butte Standard has done surveys on the Big Hole and Beaverhead rules over the years and the majority of the responses are always in favor of those rules. The rules have not been shown to be detrimental to the economy or the outfitting businesses in Southwestern Montana. It’s long past time to implement “citizen’s days” for all popular fishing rivers in Montana.
Dudley Improta
Missoula