Anglers, outfitters and business owners disputed proposed rules that would introduce outfitter “rest-rotation” schedules and regularly ban fishing from a boat on two sections of the Madison River during a virtual public hearing Tuesday evening.
“We’re 100% of the regulation and only 10-15% of the problem,” said Kelly Galloup, who owns the Slide Inn Fly Shop, at the hearing. “We’re kind of targeted as the problem children here, and I don’t think we are.”
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks held Tuesday’s hearing to gather public input on rules proposed to reduce crowding, angling pressure and conflict on the most heavily fished river in the state. Past efforts from the agency to regulate river use have been fraught with setbacks. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to vote on the rules next month.
Of particular concern to attendees at Tuesday’s hearing were rules that would introduce the “rest-rotation” schedules and ban fishing from boats on two sections of the river during certain days of the week.
The proposed “rest-rotation” rule would bar guided fishing on two stretches of the river on Saturdays and Sundays between June 15 and Sept. 30. Guided fishing between the Lyons Bridge Fishing Access Site and the Palisades Day Use Area would be prohibited on Sundays. It would be prohibited between the Varney Bridge Fishing Access Site and the Ennis Fishing Access Site on Saturdays.
Nancy Delekta, owner of the Beartooth Fly Shop, said the river isn’t long enough to support that sort of schedule. She said the rule would unintentionally result in overcrowding on small sections of the river, since commercial river users would be confined there.
Brian McGeehan, a fishing outfitter from Bozeman, said rest and rotation schedules are intended to reduce a sense of crowding, but it will have the opposite effect. All boats will be launching in a 10 miles zone of the river, he said.
“The fastest growing section of use on the river is non-commercial,” McGeehan said. “Rest and rotation does not actually set any limits on non-commercial use. It allows that type of use to continue to grow at alarming rates.”
Another disputed rule would bar people from using boats to access fishing on two sections of the river from June 15 to Sept. 30 three days out of the week. Fishing from a boat would be banned on the same stretches of river on the other four days of the week.
The rule would apply to the sections of the river between the outlet of Quake Lake and Lyons Bridge and from the Ennis Fishing Access Site to Ennis Reservoir.
A second option would remove a restriction that prohibits fishing from a boat on the stretch between Quake Lake and the Lyons Bridge Fishing Access Site. The rule would permit fishing from a boat on this stretch four days of the week, but would bar fishing from a boat on the stretch between Ennis Bridge and Ennis Lake.
Justin Edge, an outfitter who started his business in 2019, said wade anglers have as much opportunity to access the river as float anglers, and more boat bans and restrictions on commercial river users don’t make sense.
“This is going to kill lots of young businesses, including mine,” he said. “There’s no indication FWP will ever, ever restrict the general population on the river. It seems completely unfair and ultimately, really ineffective.”
Many hearing attendees argued that solely imposing regulations on outfitters is unfair, as the subset only makes up a small portion of total river users. FWP estimates that non-commercial use of the Madison amounts to 89% of overall annual river use, according to the draft environmental assessment for the regulations.
However, some people at the meeting supported adding new regulations.
Alex Leone, an Anaconda resident, said he felt the rules proposed by a coalition of sporting groups were the most balanced and fair. Sporting groups supported adding rest rotation schedules and limiting access to stretches of the river via boats.
“FWP has tons of data,” Leone said. “You could study this forever and not get anywhere.”
Carl Hamming said he also supports the rules proposed by sporting groups. “I think this is a compromise, and it’s something that gets things going,” he said. “Will it be perfect? Maybe not. But it’s a starting place.”
The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2018 voted against releasing an environmental assessment on a river recreation management plan to the public for comment. The commission instead asked that FWP form a “negotiated rulemaking committee” tasked with revising the plan. The 10 committee members failed to reach a consensus.
With no concrete management plan in sight, the Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana (FOAM) and a coalition of the George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the Anaconda Sportsmen Association and the Skyline Association introduced two petitions to the commission this August. The groups requested that the commission approve drafting new rules based on their petitions, which lay out proposed restrictions on guided fishing.
Commissioners approved drafting the new rules. Many of the regulations proposed by the outfitters association contradict rules proposed by the sporting groups. However, Shane Colton, chair of the Fish and Wildlife Commission, said the rulemaking was about creating “something tangible for the public to comment on.”
FWP released the proposed rules and an accompanying environmental assessment for public comment in September.
The public comment period is open until Oct. 30. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the regulations at a meeting on Nov. 18.
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