Please mark these meetings on your calendar:

• Great Falls-Region 4 Headquarters on December 17th at 6:30pm

• Bozeman-Region 3 Headquarters on December 18 at 6:30pm

• Helena-December 19th at Montana Wild also at 6:30pm

See news release from MT FWP below:

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will hold a series of public meetings to gather public input on preferences in fisheries management in Canyon Ferry, Holter and Hauser reservoirs as officials look to update the Upper Missouri River Reservoir Fisheries Management Plan.

The meetings will be held Dec. 17 in Great Falls at FWP’s Region 4 headquarters, Dec. 18 in Bozeman at the Region 3 headquarters office and Dec. 19 at Montana Wild in Helena. All meetings will start at 6:30 p.m. with a presentation from FWP staff on fish population trends in the various waterbodies. Staff will also ask attendees to provide input to guide management of these fisheries.

This slate of meetings is part of a broad public outreach effort by FWP to gather public opinion on preference for the fisheries in the three reservoirs and adjacent Missouri River sections. A public survey was released Dec. 5, asking anglers a wide variety of questions about their uses and preferences for the reservoir system.

The Upper Missouri River Reservoir Fisheries Management Plan guides FWP’s management of Canyon Ferry, Hauser and Holter reservoirs, the Missouri River from Toston to Canyon Ferry and the river below Hauser dam. This will be the third revision of the plan. The previous two iterations were in place for 10 years each. The current plan is in place through 2019.

FWP held public meetings this past summer to collect input on management of these waterbodies. This survey and next round of public meetings are an extension of that effort.

The public meeting will last approximately two hours. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete and can be found online at fwp.mt.gov.