Gianforte Blocked FWP Streamflow Efforts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, April 15, 2022
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Gianforte Blocked FWP Streamflow Efforts
Is Greg using the FWP to show favoritism to friends and impose his worldview on our public resources?
Helena, MT – According to a FWP records request granted last month, Governor Gianforte barred the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks department (FWP) last summer from asserting agency water rights. FWP was attempting to ensure ecosystem-health and down-stream water access during a widespread drought in the Smith and Shields rivers.
Under Montana law, FWP has the authority to manage water rights during droughts, to preserve water quality and a healthy fish population by reducing the amount of water some of the newer– or “junior” –water-rights holders can pull from a waterway. FWP was planning on “making a call” on 48 junior water-rights holders along the two rivers last summer, when Gianforte stepped in, ignored the experts, and blocked the policy.
Conservationists and sportsmen and women are concerned that Gianforte will continue overstepping his jurisdiction this summer as well, in the face of a predicted record-breaking drought. The mountains that supply the Shields River basin have received only half of their normal snowpack so far this year, meaning river levels could drop quickly once again, straining human and aquatic ecosystems.
“Who was Gianforte advocating for when he barred the FWP from doing their job? Because it certainly was not for the good of all Montanans,” says Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party. “Gianforte’s approach to Montana’s public resources have followed a predictable arc: ignore environmental experts and bend the rules to be favorable to his rich, well-connected friends and donors, even if it means letting our rivers run dry”
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