FWP to discuss season setting at meetings

More public engagement and greater transparency is the goal of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ early kick off to the biennial hunting season-setting process. In the past, public involvement happened primarily in December and January. This year, public involvement will start in June and end in November.

FWP will begin conducting their statewide scoping meetings from June 15 to July 15. The Thompson Falls meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 27, at Thompson Falls High School. At this meeting, FWP staff is seeking input from hunters on regulation changes they’d like to see. Staff will also solicit feedback on more specific proposals they have planned.

According to FWP, these scoping meetings are more formal than in past years and will replace the public meetings previously used to present and discuss tentative regulations.

The scoping meetings also are not the same as public comment meetings. The scoping meetings will be used by FWP staff to capture general themes from the hunters. FWP will then use this information to develop draft regulations, which will be released for public comment in October.

Additional public meetings are planned for early November to answer questions about the draft regulation proposals. The public may also comment on the draft regulation proposals on the FWP website during the fall public commenting period. The final decision on regulations will come at the December Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting.

Hunting regulation changes are done every other year, and FWP hopes this new, earlier process will give the public a better understanding of where regulation changes are coming from, how FWP is engaging the public, and what changes are being suggested by individual commissioners.

The earlier start to the process will also result in the availability of hunting regulations at the beginning of the license year, which is March 1, 2024.

Other Region 1 scoping meetings are as follows: Eureka, 6 p.m. June 28, Timbers Lodge; Kalispell, 6 p.m. June 29, FWP Region 1 Office with a virtual option; Libby, 6 p.m. July 6, KW Maki Theater.