Water, racing down the stream beds and out of Montana in 

 the spring, is of no value to Montanans for any purpose. In fact, 

 it is commonly destructive, carrying with it the State's soil and even 

 homes. 



Impoundments have and can be built to retain these waters, but 

 as watersheds continue to deteriorate, these impoundments will silt 

 full even more rapidly than they are at the present time. Many of 

 these are now inadequate to hold back spring floods, and will become 

 less and less effective in the future. 



Yes, there is a bright side in the relation of watershed to fish 

 populations. People will realize that good, clear, clean waters with 

 stable flows reflect a healthy economy and a prosperous people. 

 Montanans will and must soon awake to the realization that the con- 

 dition of their watersheds will spell the degree of their prosperity. 

 A well integrated and intensive program of education by all con- 

 cerned with water and land will speed the day's arrival when land 

 users will look at the soil as their wealth. 



Regulations 



Regulation is one of the oldest and most used types of fisheries 

 management. Like any other management tool, it can be only as 

 effective as its use is sound. Too often in the past the intention has 

 been to regulate the fishermen instead of the fish populations, and 

 again there has been the intention of saving the fish instead of 

 making optimum utilization of the fish. Remember that fish are a 

 crop; a renewable resource that should be used. If they are not 

 caught within a reasonable number of years after hatching they die 

 of natural causes. 



Even at this present time in Montana many fishing regulations 

 are formed from ill considered opinions or wishful thinking. Un- 

 fortunately — or perhaps fortunately, depending upon one's viewpoint 

 — fish do not behave as men reason they should. The Commission, in 

 its "new-look" at the fisheries resource, is endeavoring to base its 

 regulations on fact instead of fiction just as rapidly as the fishing 

 public will allow this to be done. 



Only those regulations which have a proven need should be 

 imposed upon the fishermen. Regulations tend to become complicated 

 and involved, and Montana's are no exception. Regulations are of 

 little value unless they are obeyed, and the presence of an enforce- 

 ment officer does not pi'event violations when fishermen consider 

 that regulations are needlessly complicated and of little value. 



Laws are obeyed when respected. There are few people who would 

 knowingly drive through a red traffic light, even though there were 

 no traffic, and even though it were obvious that there was no traffic 

 officer in the vicinity. 



Then too, law enforcement and regulations are inseparable. The 

 once imagined need for more and more law enforcement is not 

 valid. The warden is an important figure in fish and game conserva- 



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