Dear FWP and the Elk Management Citizen Advisory Group -
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on your ‘Improve Accessibility to the FWP Videos, Programs, PSAs, etc. that Promote the Desired Behaviors between Landowners and Hunters’ proposal.
The Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers supports the implementation of improving the accessibility of FWP resources aimed at hunter-landowner relations. This should be an established expectation and efforts ongoing and not something the public would have to remind FWP to do better and more of. Of course, there are other competing communication needs, but FWP has failed to improve the education programs to keep pace with public needs over the last five to ten years. Perhaps a more seasonally designed outreach effort is what is needed here. It seems FWP's website does not change much; it's mostly static.
That said, we believe it's a stretch, perhaps a bit naive, to believe that improving the accessibility to FWP videos or PSAs will improve stakeholder relationships and quality access to harvest elk. The issue is not one of lacking information and education, and we need to make sure we don't inadvertently go down the path of investing in education only in hopes of solving the issue.
Thank you again for the opportunity to comment on your ‘Improve Accessibility to the FWP Videos, Programs, PSAs, etc. that Promote the Desired Behaviors between Landowners and Hunters’ proposal. We appreciate your careful consideration.
-The Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers