Proposed administrative rules to establish a voluntary management stamp to enable anyone to make a donation to Montana’s wolf program won’t be adopted this year, state wildlife officials said today.
Instead, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will convene a diverse group of representative interests to discuss how to balance the challenges and benefits of creating a new or additional way for those who don’t hunt or fish to contribute to wildlife management.
The proposed rules would have directed FWP to make available for sale a $20 wolf stamp. The rules would have defined how the voluntary donations would be allocated to wolf management activities. FWP received and reviewed more than 50,000 comments on the proposal over the course of the nearly two month comment period.
“The large number and variety of public comments shows a need to further discuss the concept,” said Ron Aasheim, spokesman for FWP in Helena. “With so many different points-of-view expressed, many unanswered questions and divergent expectations remain. We want to get this right the first time, and don’t want to compromise the obvious potential of offering an opportunity to those who don’t hunt and fish the chance to contribute to wildlife management.”
FWP Director Jeff Hagener will seek to convene a group for a day-long discussion this fall. The group’s central task will be to identify or develop common ground for developing future funding recommendations that could be considered for public review and comment.
(Report by Montana FWP)
