The FWP enforcement personnel do not currently enforce federal travel restrictions except for 

 hunters and anglers conducting those activities under FWP Commission Rules and Regulations. 



There are currently Memorandums of Understanding between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 

 FWP. These MOUs outline joint responsibilities for violations of federal and state laws. They 

 also address responsibilities and guidelines for joint investigations by Montana game wardens 

 and USFWS special agents, as well as between Wildlife Services and FWP outlining joint 

 investigations of grizzly bear depredations (Appendix G). 



Discussions to date indicate two areas where statutes and/or regulations need to be changed to 

 support the full implementation of this plan. Earlier drafts of this plan recommended that 

 statutes must be passed to make it illegal to intentionally feed or attract bears. Such legislation 

 was in fact passed in 2001 (MCA 87-3-103, Appendix H). People who intentionally feed or 

 attract bears to their residence create problems that impact their neighbors, jeopardize human 

 safety, and result in problem situations. These actions are now illegal. Secondly, FWP wardens 

 have no enforcement authority to enforce food storage regulations on Forest Service lands. 

 Measures should be taken to establish this authority. This will be increasingly important as the 

 bear population expands and, hopefully, food storage regulations are required on additional 

 national forest lands. FWP wardens spend a great deal of time in backcountry areas checking 

 people on national forest lands, and their ability to enforce these rules would ultimately result in 

 greater compliance and fewer bear/human conflicts. 



Finally, the enforcement aspects are critical enough to program success that additional resources 

 should be made available to implement new responsibilities. These would include sufficient 

 fiinds for equipment and necessary overtime required to operate in remote areas and, ultimately, 

 additional staffing. The USFS and BLM will be approached to try and identify additional 

 fiinding to support FWP in these efforts due to increased responsibilities enforcing food storage 

 and travel plan regulations if that authority is developed. 



An alternative FWP considered was to not seek additional authority either through MOUs and 

 statutes to expand state enforcement authority in dealing with preventive measures relating to 

 human^ear conflicts. However, FWP enforcement personnel are in the most effective position 

 to address these problems. 



Education/Public Outreach 



> FWP will include lessons on human safety while hunting in bear habitat in each hunter 

 education class. 



> FWP will continue to expand its efforts to assist hunters with identification of black versus 

 grizzly bears. In 2002, FWP began mandatory training for people interested in hunting black 

 bears. 



> FWP will develop ways to target education efforts towards "new" Montana residents 

 regarding human/bear issues as well as long-term residents. 



>• FWP will encourage the Board of Outfitters to require all outfitters and guides operating in 

 bear habitat to be certified in human^ear safety. 



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