Creation of an ambassador corps to help defuse anxiety and tension at Madison River boat ramps is being considered by a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks advisory group.
At its Nov. 23 meeting the Madison River Work Group heard a presentation from Dave Kumlien proposing the idea. Kumlien – a former Bozeman fly shop owner, conservationist and fishing guide – referenced a program launched on the Clark Fork River in Missoula this summer as a good example for how to proceed.
The Missoula River Ambassador Pilot Program launched in June and ran through Labor Day. The goal was to engage with recreational floaters, mainly inner tubers utilizing the Clark Fork between Bonner and Missoula.
“We all agreed that the pilot project was a huge success, and we’ll be meeting with our partners after the new year to discuss and decide upon a funding model going forward,” said Karen Knudsen, executive director of the Clark Fork Coalition wrote in an email.
Report
In a report on the program’s first year, the four paid ambassadors spent about 120 hours making hundreds of contacts while also encouraging safe recreation and picking up trash, mainly acting as an educational resource. Social media played a large role in the ambassadors interacting with young recreational floaters, many of them students at the University of Montana.
The ambassadors also surveyed more than 120 people to collect details on where they were from, how they got to the river and how often they recreate there. Not surprisingly, for that stretch of the Clark Fork River only 7% cited fishing as their reason to access the river.
“I think we have a very good program we can pattern after,” Kumlien said.
Guides on the Middle Fork Flathead River hoist rafts onto a trailer. More than 40 whitewater guides took part in river ambassador training this summer on the river. A Madison work group hopes to learn from the Flathead and a Clark Fork program to create its own ambassadors.
Use climbs
A similar program on the Madison River could ease tempers at places like Lyons Bridge fishing access site upstream from Ennis, Kumlien noted.
Between 2019 and 2020, as the pandemic took hold, vehicle counts jumped more than 60% at Lyons. The Madison advisory group noted disparaging headlines in the New York Times referencing “Rivergeddon” and comparing boating on the Madison to a “Disneyland ride.” Such negative publicity could harm a $27 million dollar economic lifeline to the region.
“I’ve watched my own blood pressure and heart rate drop” after leaving the boat ramp, Kumlien said.
Mac Minard, of the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association, also offered an outline for a river ambassador program and said the program offers a way to quickly have a significant impact on river user dissatisfaction.
“To my mind this is a no-brainer,” Minard said. “It’s really a responsible and positive move.”
Volunteers gather for river ambassador training along the Middle Fork Flathead River this summer. The Flathead Rivers Alliance plans to expand the program in 2022 from four to 20 or 30.
Flathead
The Flathead Rivers Alliance also implemented a similar program on the three forks of the Flathead River this summer. Sheena Pate, who oversaw the volunteer program utilizing six individuals, plans to expand it to 20 to 30 people this coming summer. She also provided training to 40 whitewater raft guides.
“We’re not the authority,” Pate said. “We’re here for education and outreach to create a better experience for everyone involved.”
That’s a component the Madison group also keyed in on – utilizing people who interact and learn from FWP but are not on staff or conducting any enforcement.
“Having someone out there with an FWP shirt on doesn’t elicit rainbows and sunshine,” said Eileen Ryce, Fisheries Program manager for FWP.
That means raising money from partner groups to fund the program. The Flathead Rivers Alliance was able to collect $103,000 for its first season, which included grants.
The Missoula program cost $40,000, $10,000 of which came from the city with the county covering the rest, Knudsen said. The coalition provided about $5,000 in in-kind support. FWP offered a field staffer, which allowed the program to expand coverage, and was available to coordinate with law enforcement, which fortunately wasn’t needed, she said.
“There are likely some other sources of funding we could try to tap,” Knudsen said.
Pool toys like this inflatable are showing up on rivers more often as new and inexperienced recreationists utilize Montana’s waterways.
Water fun
The need for river ambassadors comes as more people are crowding waterways for recreation, many of them new to their chosen water sport or the region.
Pate said her ambassadors partnered with FWP to hand out lifejackets to Flathead river users who were ill equipped. She noted the region also saw an increase in inflatable use, including blow-up mattresses better suited to pools than wild rivers.
“I think people don’t understand there are dangers, and that they need a proper watercraft,” she said. “We just want them to recreate safely.”
The Madison River is somewhat unique in how spread out different users are, and the ways and times the sections are used. For example, the upper 50 miles is mainly a fly-fishing stream, with little recreational boating. The 31-mile lower river stretch starts at Beartrap Canyon which offers a wild whitewater stretch. Below the canyon at Warm Springs the heavily used inner tube section starts, continuing to Blacks Ford. From there downstream to the Missouri River’s headwaters the Madison becomes more remote with less use, especially in the hot summer months as water temperatures rise. During the Mother’s Day caddis hatch and in the fall, however, the lower river is a popular spot.
Consequently, river ambassadors may have to shape their presentations to accommodate the different users and seasons.
Flathead Rivers Alliance volunteer ambassador Matthew Rudolph shares information at Blankenship Bridge along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River as part of a new program to educate river users this summer.
Madison
The issue of river ambassadors is just one portion of what the Madison River Work Group has been addressing since it began meeting in September. The 12 member group, led by Fish and Wildlife Commissioner K.C. Walsh, is tackling the onerous issue of possible fishing regulation changes and whether outfitters and guides should be barred from certain stretches of the river to ease pressure on the resource.
“2020 and 2021 were massively impacted by the pandemic in terms of use,” noted work group member Brian McGeehan, owner of a Bozeman fly-fishing shop.
Will that trend extend into the future, or was it a spike that will be followed by a decline?
An answer to crowding on the Madison River and how to measure and regulate use has been a hot topic for several years. In that time, FWP, user groups and the Fish and Wildlife Commission have been unable to agree on a way forward despite several studies, workshops and proposals.
For now, a river ambassador program seems like an easy win in a debate that often turns contentious.
“Let’s get it done this summer and let us champion this thing,” said Minard, of the Montana Outfitters and Guides Association.
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