After what seemed an eternity, the Governor's newly formed Grizzly Bear Advisory Council met in Helena last week to kick off what I hope to be an amazingly productive year of discussion and recommendations for both the Governor's office and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The 18 "chosen ones" on the Council met at the Kleffner Ranch just outside of East Helena on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. The first day was filled with "housekeeping" information, and three very informative presentations by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks staff Cecily Costello, Ken McDonald and attorney Bill Schenk.
After a grueling day of presentations and charter writing, members of the Council met for a more laid back discussion at the Ten Mile Creek Brewery in Helena.
Friday, Oct. 4, the Council's meeting began with some team building and "getting to know each other" exercises, then the Council got down to work identifying which areas of the Governor's Executive Order were the most pertinent as a starting point. The Council also focused on what additional information was needed in order to make informed and reasonable recommendations to the Governor.
Of the seven topics listed by the Governor, the three that the Council decided to work on at the November meeting are: Grizzly Bear Distribution within Montana, Connectivity Between Ecosystems, and Conflict Prevention.
A public comment period was held both days of the meeting, and the entire thing was open to the public and press. To provide comments in the future, the public is encouraged to attend the meetings, contact any of the GBAC members, or comment here.
The Council will meet again Wednesday, Nov. 13 and Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019 in Bozeman, Montana. I encourage everyone that has a stake or an interest in the future of grizzly bear management in Montana to attend or follow the Council via the FWP website, news media, and of course, my blog. You can also follow me on Facebook!
20 minutes later....
Wow. Apparently after being interviewed countless times in the last few days my brain went to reporter mode when I wrote this blog! Now that I've had a minute to have a coloring contest with my kid, let me try again...here's my take on the first two days of the GBAC meetings...
I was a little worried about getting 18 "stakeholders" together in one room with all those different views and opinions, but the Governor's office and FWP did a GREAT job in choosing 18 Montanans to work together for the common good of people, livestock and grizzly bears.
I thought we had a great couple days breaking the ice, getting to know each other, and most importantly - finding that although we all come from a variety of backgrounds and opinions, our love for Montana and its wildlife is the common ground that is going to help us get through this process of writing recommendations as smoothly as possible. I don't doubt that there will be some heated discussions, and possibly even some raised voices, but for the most part, I think we'll be able to work together as respectable adults and come up with some solutions that will work for everyone.
That being said, they didn't give us any meat for lunch on Thursday, and I'm still pretty upset about it. LOL
I am very much looking forward to our next meeting where we can finally dive in and get to work! If you have suggestions for the three topics I listed previously, PLEASE submit your comments or let one of us know - we are there to represent EVERYONE in Montana.
Also, here is the Montana Public Radio coverage of the meeting!