STATISTICAL SECTION 



The old saying "Time is Money" is still an im- 

 portant adage even in recreation management. 

 People concerned with Montana's wildlife resource 

 find that the presence of concise accurate facts when 

 dealing with many problems is a necessity. To imple- 

 ment this need for facts, a statistical section, consist- 

 ing of a Wildlife Statistician and one Clerk, has been 

 in operation for a little more than two years. 



It is a new program, but there is little doubt that 

 it is a positive one. The blending of mathematics 

 and biology necessary to prepare the information 

 needed by the personnel of the Montana Fish and 

 Game Department is a highly technical job. It re- 

 quires an understanding of the objectives of all De- 

 partment personnel, the utilization of modern high 

 speed computers, and a recognition that the final 

 product must be helpful in producing more recreation 

 for Montana. 



The Statistical Section has completely changed 

 the harvest analysis techniques used. In so doing, 

 the Game Management Division removed about 

 seven months a year work load from its personnel 

 and the same information is calculated in less than 

 five hours on a computer. Similar economies have 

 been realized in the Fish Division where the person- 



nel on one creel census project was cut from four 

 summer employees to two. The Information and Edu- 

 cation Division saved nearly $20,000.00 in having 

 the Statistical Section and Montana State College 

 perform its economic survey rather than contracting 

 the project to an outside firm. Many other projects 

 have been similarly beneficial to the Department by 

 saving time, extra employees and money. 



Statistics is an integral part of research and the 

 utilization of statistical techniques in wildlife research 

 has become a "must." The mass of data needed must 

 be processed using electronic data processing ma- 

 chines or else the accumulation of factual information 

 is too great to assimilate. To the research biologist, 

 this is a great help since it means that he may spend 

 more time in the field to make observations for which 

 he is employed. These observations are then an- 

 alyzed by the Statistical Section and returned to the 

 biologist for interpretation. 



The Statistical Section is working toward be- 

 coming a strong supporting unit of all Divisions of 

 the Department. It has proved that properly com- 

 bined mathematics and data processing can help 

 improve recreation. 



