FWP releases 2026–2030 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan

HELENA — If you’ve ever shown up to a trailhead that’s falling apart, or tried to find accessible fishing access for a family member with mobility issues, you already understand why Montana needs a plan like this. FWP has released the 2026–2030 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan — the SCORP — and it’s the five-year blueprint that’ll shape how outdoor recreation gets funded, built, and managed across the state.

The plan zeroes in on several areas that honestly should’ve gotten more attention years ago: improving trail connectivity and access, expanding recreation opportunities for people with disabilities, supporting the communities and local economies that depend on outdoor tourism, tackling the backlog of deferred maintenance on existing facilities, and — maybe most importantly — making sure growing recreation pressure doesn’t come at the expense of the land and water we’re all out there to enjoy in the first place.

FWP didn’t just put this together in a conference room in Helena. The SCORP was built on public input, stakeholder engagement, and hard data on where recreation trends are heading and where the gaps are. In my experience, these kinds of planning documents are only as good as the boots-on-the-ground feedback that goes into them — and this one had real participation from local governments, tribes, land managers, and nonprofits who deal with these issues every day.

The National Park Service gave the plan its formal approval this past winter. That approval isn’t just a rubber stamp — Montana has to have an NPS-approved SCORP on the books to stay eligible for the Land and Water Conservation Fund’s State Assistance Program. The LWCF is the federal matching grant program that FWP administers, and it’s responsible for funding outdoor recreation projects in communities all over Montana. Lose eligibility, and those dollars dry up fast.

The SCORP also functions as the guiding document for how those LWCF dollars get allocated. So if you’re with a county, a tribe, a parks department, or any other eligible entity that’s eyeing federal grant money for a recreation project — whether that’s a new boat ramp on the Missouri, a trail connector outside of Whitefish, or an accessible fishing pier near Lewistown — you’ll want to read through the plan and make sure your proposal lines up with its goals and priorities. That alignment matters when applications get reviewed.

The full 2026–2030 Montana SCORP is available at fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/scorp. For questions about the SCORP or the LWCF program, visit fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/grant-programs/land-and-water-conservation-fund or reach out directly to parks and outdoor recreation planner Amber Lopatine at amber.lopatine@mt.gov.