Group calls out park board over FWP comments

A group of Hill County residents have criticized Hill County Park Board members for comments they made at the June Park Board meeting about Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks asking the board to resolve a problem with charging people to fish.

Lou Hagener, one of the 16 people who signed a written statement about the issue, read the statement at Monday’s Park Board meeting.

“At the June Park Board meeting and in the Havre Daily News article reporting on the meeting there were comments of hostility, contempt and disrespect for FWP that were uncalled for, unproductive and not in the interest of resolving the issue,” Hagener read from the statement. “There is nothing to be gained for Beaver Creek Park, or the citizens, in continuing with the attitudes of the June Park Board and quite a bit to lose.

“There are viable alternatives to discuss with the public and FWP to deal with the current circumstances that can be good for Beaver Creek Park, citizens, fishermen, the Park Board and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks,” the statement continued. “The Park Board needs to step up, lead, be a cooperative partner and be part of the solution and not part of the problem.’

Tom Flowers, FWP regional manager in Glasgow, told the board at its May meeting that people have come to the agency with concerns about the county charging them fees when they fish at the park, while their fishing license is supposed to provide them free access to waters stocked by FWP.

Flowers said that state law prevents FWP from stocking waters where a fee is charged for access, adding that the agency has stocked fish in Beaver Creek for decades and the agency wants to find a way to resolve the problem so it can continue doing so.

Board member Robbie Lucke Monday said that people who are passionate about an issue will make passionate comments, and reiterated his comments from the June meeting.

“Sometimes, when you have seen Fish, Wildlife and Parks totally ignore us here for years and years and years and years, you get a little passionate about it,” Lucke said.

The statement Hagener read says that past fees to use the park were modest, and, as Flowers pointed out, it wasn’t until the Park Board raised day use fees — now $10 a day — that people had an issue with the fees.

“The Park Board is responsible for causing this predicament and the citizens and FWP have responded,” the statement says.

Lucke said the board did not raise fees arbitrarily, but after extensive discussion and work by a committee that reviewed the fee structure at the park. After that review, the board raised fees in an attempt to pay for the park’s operation, he said.

“That’s our right,” Lucke added.

Board Chair Steve Mariani said FWP has a point — they stock the fish and they are making people pay with their licenses, and the Park Board didn’t know that when it raised the fee.

He repeatedly said he didn’t like the letter — “It’s like a witch hunt” — but the board has to work out the issue.

Mariani said he doesn’t think the board is opposed to FWP’s request, adding that he read the article in the Havre Daily News and he didn’t get the impression that the board meeting was hostile or contemptuous about the FWP request.

“I don’t think we were badmouthing them at all,” Mariani said.

Board member Larry Kinsella said he thought FWP’s presentation in May was reasonable.

“They were not confrontational at all. They wanted to help,” Kinsella said. “I don’t see why we can’t work with them.”

Board members Jeff LaVoi and Mark Peterson, both Hill County commissioners, said they want the board to think about ways it could resolve the issue before FWP representatives return for the August or September board meeting.

“Personally, I think we need to look for some other sources for that and not charge anyway,” LaVoi said.

He suggested finding a way, like the state does for state parks, to have people opt in to make a payment for Beaver Creek Park similar to what the state government does for state parks on vehicle registrations.

“We could probably make more money,” he said.

Peterson said the board should consider its options, including some suggestions Flowers made at the May board meeting.

“This may provide us an opportunity down the road, depending on what they bring forth, that we may be able to to look at a small area with no fees to see how it works, as far as day fees go, for maybe the rest of the park down the road,” he said.

“So I think we need to keep an open mind, be patient,” Peterson said. “All of us need to be thinking about it. I think there is a solution to this.”