
Montana Earthquake and Minor Political Hunting Fee Bill Tremors
There were rumblings in the ground and grumblings on the House floor all within a few hours of each other.
In what some would have assumed would be an easy sell - that's usually the case when charging nonresident hunters more is the topic - the reception was extremely cool. More on that from the Montana State Legislature in a moment. But first:
MONTANA WAS QUAKING WEDNESDAY NIGHT
Nobody seemed too alarmed.. At approximately 6:00 p.m. Wednesday (January 29), there was a 3.9 magnitude earthquake near Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. Park officials say that's typical of the Yellowstone region and not a sign of any significant unrest.
The tremor was reported by a few area residents that felt it.
NONRESIDENT BASE-HUNTING BUMP DEBATE
In a follow-up from a story we shared last week, there was seismic activity during discussion of a bill that would increase funding for Montana's Block Management hunter access program.
Brett French, outdoor editor with the Billings Gazette, tells us that House Bill 145, sponsored by Rep. Gary Parry, R-Colstrip, would raise the base license fee for non-residents from $15 to $100, with $90 of each fee going to fund Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks hunting access programs. And there were pros and cons expressed among those in attendance Thursday.
Scott Boulanger, representing the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, said his group would support a "mild increase", but felt that the jump from $15 to $100 was too drastic.
Committee vice-chair Caleb Hinkle, R-Belgrade, argued that $100 is small change when it comes to the other expenses nonresidents are paying to hunt in Montana, and asked, “How is 100 bucks drastic?”
A suggested amendment offered by one of the committee members was drop the fee to $50, with $40 going to Block Management. If that were approved, based on 2023 nonresident base license numbers, $3.4 million would have been raised. In 2023, nonresidents bought 85,228 hunting licenses. If they had paid $100 for the licenses, more than $7.67 million would have been raised.
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