brett french

Montana FWP’s Block Management Squeeze: 700,000 Hunters, Fewer Acres—and a Plan to Bring Landowners Back

Montana’s Block Management Program is seeing far more demand even as enrolled private-land acres shrink. FWP is surveying landowners—and considering new incentives and outreach—to ease crowding and rebuild access.

Montana Expands Hunter Education: FWP Adds 7 Regional Technicians as Youth Participation Declines

Feb-20-26 by Angela Montana

Brett French

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is expanding hunter education support by hiring seven regional education technicians, even as youth participation faces headwinds from overscheduled kids, two-income parents, and volunteer instructors. The technicians will help backstop the required firearm safety program for anyone born after Jan. 1, 1985.

Dam bypass channel changes Lower Yellowstone River fishing

Feb-13-26 by Angela Montana

Brett French

A new bypass channel allows fish to navigate around Intake Diversion Dam, significantly increasing walleye populations in the Lower Yellowstone River and enhancing local fishing experiences over the last four years.

Yellowstone cougars change diets, behavior to avoid wolves

Feb-06-26 by Angela Montana

Brett French Mountain Lion wildlife

In Yellowstone, wolves and cougars clash because wolves steal elk kills, sometimes killing cougars. A long-term GPS study shows they’re rivals without reward, unlike smaller predators that scavenge for food.

Why did the Montana elk walk 200 miles to South Dakota?

Jan-30-26 by Angela Montana

Brett French wildlife

BRETT FRENCH | bfrench@billingsgazette.com As any hunter can tell you, elk are frustratingly smart, but they also adhere to certain […]

brett french

Montana FWP’s Block Management Squeeze: 700,000 Hunters, Fewer Acres—and a Plan to Bring Landowners Back

Montana Expands Hunter Education: FWP Adds 7 Regional Technicians as Youth Participation Declines

Dam bypass channel changes Lower Yellowstone River fishing

Yellowstone cougars change diets, behavior to avoid wolves

Why did the Montana elk walk 200 miles to South Dakota?

Montana FWP licensing technology badly in need of updates, audit reveals

More grizzly encounters in Beartooth Mountains, according to FWP

Tourism pressure prompts tension for conservation-minded business

FWP seeks water to keep Rock Creek flowing

As mule deer numbers decline, commission cuts tags

Black bear changes create special Beartooth tag

Southest Montana pronghorn populations decline, permits cut

FWP rows forward on Montana river crowding

FWP to change how it sells licenses in stores

New study tries to estimate bruins’ worth

Half of successful Montana elk hunters fill their tags on public land

Yellowstone seeks bison reduction to stay within goals

How social media negatively impacts Glacier National Park

FWP’s Justin Gude, RMEF conservation chief answer elk habitat, predation questions

Montana FWP access programs face budget, staffing challenges

Lavina-area sage grouse habitat easement OK’d

Want to be a Yellowstone backcountry ranger? Read this first

Paddler’s paradise: Yellowstone National Park’s Shoshone Lake

Endangered pallid sturgeon successfully spawn in Missouri River

Anchor Ranch has been at center of access disputes

It was a short season for some backcountry bighorn hunters

Fish and Wildlife Commission Oks more than 122,300 acres of easements

OnX map identifies BLM acres for potential disposal

Montana native new leader of Red Lodge Mountain ski area

How should mule deer be managed? Public weighs in with ideas

Weird tales from Wyoming wardens

Madison River island being restored to help fish

State lands near Gallatin County dump closed to shooting