Dear Gov. Greg Gianforte,
As business owners, guides and concerned community members, we are requesting your help and immediate assistance in addressing the dire, emergency situation occurring within the rivers of southwest Montana’s Jefferson Basin.
According to Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, trout population numbers have reached historic lows, including little to no young-of-year recruitment. For our businesses to survive, we need the full engagement and all available resources under your authority as governor to both investigate this crash and help us develop solutions, before it’s too late. As impacted business owners whoprovide critical jobs and support communities in the region, we respectfully request an emergency meeting and response from your office by Friday, June 2.
Trout counts in the Jefferson Basin — which includes the Big Hole, Ruby, Jefferson, and Beaverhead Rivers — have steadily declined for the last seven years, with rapidly declining recruitment numbers of young trout confirming that it’s only going to get worse. This year’s fish count numbers presented by FWP confirmed our worst fears: We have an emergency in southwest Montana’s rivers, and we need to act immediately to avoid a total collapse of those trout fisheries. We believe severe economic harm, business closures, and job losses in the region and throughout Montana are imminent if we don’t take action to both understand the causes, and to develop solutions.
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Clean, healthy rivers and vibrant wild fisheries are part of our unique Montana way of life. They are also critical to Montana’s outdoor economy, which accounts for $7.1 billion in consumer spending and supports more than 71,000 jobs. In Beaverhead County alone, fly fishing, hunting and the outdoor economy generates more than $167 million each year for Montana's economy while creating over 1,400 jobs. Much of that critical economic infusion into this area, and the businesses and jobs it supports, will dry up if wild trout populations dwindle further.
We are respectfully requesting your response by Friday, June 2, to:
1. Coordinate an emergency meeting between businesses, lodges, guides, outfitters and community members either inperson in Wise River, virtually, or in Helena at your earliest convenience, to hear from impacted constituents in order to better understand the state’s planned response to this emergency and to start addressing this ecological and economic emergency before it’s too late.
2. Use your authority as the governor to authorize state expert agencies to access the necessary resources to conduct scientific analysis to determine the cause(s) of the trout population collapse in the Jefferson Basin and potential solutions.
3. Identify emergency funding to support any river-based business interruptions or temporary closures caused by the declining health of Montana’s cold water fisheries in the Jefferson Basin.
We believe the only way to preserve one of the last intact cold-water fisheries in the lower 48 states is to act boldly and decisively to protect our Montana way of life, much like you did in response to the historic flooding on the Yellowstone River last year.
This is an all hands-on-deck moment.
We look forward to working with you, your office, and respectfully request an immediate response. As fellow outdoor advocates, we agree Montana is open for business, but in order to keep our businesses open we must, collectively, confront the collapsing cold water fisheries in southwest Montana’s Jefferson Basin.
Craig and Wade Fellin, Big Hole Lodge, Wise River; Paul Moseley, Complete Fly Fisher, Wise River; Ruby Springs, Sheridan; Brian McGeehan, Montana Angler, Bozeman; Kelly Galloup; Slide Inn, Cameron/Ennis; Mike Geary, Healing Waters Lodge, Sheridan; Shaun Jaszenka, Frontier Anglers, Dillon; Craig and Lia Jones, Great Divide Outfitters & Fly Shop, Divide; Brad Platt and John Anderson, Anderson & Platt Outfitters, Dillon; Ryan Barba, Sunrise Flyshop, Melrose; Cody Benzel, Montana Trout Fishers, Dillon; Seth McLean, 4 Rivers Fishing Company, Twin Bridges; John McKinnie, John McKinnie Outfitters, Philipsburg; Rudy Ketchum, Big Hole River Enterprises, LLC, Wise River; Mark Lane, Great Waters Inn, Melrose; Brandi Bartscher, H-J Saloon & Cafe, Wise River; Cooper Ketchum, Ketchum Adventures, Wise River; Hunter Dixon, The Rod Shop, Wise River; David Thompson, Montana Trout Foundation, Brian Wheeler, Big Hole River Foundation. Guides: Gary Tilton, Travis Thompson, Al Lefor, Mike Skiba, Tallen Miller, Ikaika Flagg, Keith McGlothlin, Jacob Cleverly, Connor Dwyer, Alex Rundella.