FWP to buy lands in wildlife areas from DNRC

A proposal by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to purchase 9,488 acres of land managed by the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation located within FWP-managed wildlife management areas in Cascade, Lewis and Clark and Teton counties was unanimously OK’d on Thursday by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Of the 9,488 acres:

• 3,410 are located in the Sun River WMA in Lewis and Clark County and appraised at $6.25 million.

• 5,240 are in the Beartooth WMA in Cascade and Lewis and Clark counties and appraised at $4 million.

• And 639 are in the Blackleaf WMA in Teton County and appraised at $855,000.

The total appraised value of the land is $11.1 million.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks will use funds from its Habitat Montana Program and Pittman Robertson dollars for the purchase.

Habitat Montana Program funds come from a portion of hunting license fees. Pittman Robertson funds come from federal excise tax on arms and ammunition sales.

FWP says purchasing the inholdings will allow the land to be managed solely for wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. It currently pays the DNRC about $41,000 annually for the leases and licenses.

FWP and DNRC officials say the missions of the two agencies are different, with FWP’s mission managing for wildlife, while the DNRC has a fiduciary responsibility to generate income from its lands.

Ken McDonald, who heads FWP’s Wildlife Division, said FWP received 72 comments with 67 in favor of the purchase and five against it.

Concerns raised included reducing income that DNRC gets from leasing its land in the WMAs for grazing. Another concern was that one state agency shouldn’t have to buy public land from another state agency. Another concern was using taxpayer dollars for the purchase.

“We didn’t think any of the opposition was enough to derail the project so the decision was made to move forward,” McDonald said.

Shawn Thomas, the DNRC’s Trust Land Management Division, said he expected there to be more opposition based on the required level of education on why FWP should buy the inholdings from the DNRC.

“This is a solution to a lot of administrative problems we have had in the past on how to set the right fees and how to meet our mission and how to meet the mission of FWP,” Thomas. “This is a great solution.”

The Land Board will vote on whether to move forward with the purchase next week.

A public auction will then be conducted in July.

Anybody who bids will be required to put down 20 percent of the minimum bid price 20 days before the auction, requiring a significant outlay of cash, Thomas said. FWP is afforded the ability to stop the sale process up to 10 days before the auction occurs.

Money from the sale will go into the DNRC’s Land Banking Program. Those funds are used to purchase other lands that have public access and provide equal or greater trust revenue than the lands sold.

Follow Karl Puckett on Twitter @GFTrib_KPuckett.