Wildlife watching is increasing while hunting and fishing are declining.

That’s the word from University of Idaho professor J. Michael Scott.

He made the remark as part of a panel discussion on conservation of wildlife and forest resources during the Western Governors Association meeting Monday in Whitefish.

“User communities are changing,” Scott said, identifying one of the challenges facing conservation efforts.

There is a need to engage a greater number of Americans in wildlife solutions, Scott said, noting wildlife watchers traditionally don’t contribute as much financially as hunters and anglers through user-based fees.

One answer involves talking with the 25 biggest landowners in each state, Scott said, noting that less than five percent of the population owns more than 80 percent of the privately owned land in the United States.

Scott mentioned a real estate transfer tax as an example of a way to support conservation.

A real estate transfer tax was used to develop 30,000 acres in the Tejon Ranch in California while conserving 240,000 acres. Each time a tract of land in the 30,000 acres in sold, a tax is generated for a conservation management fund.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said his state has raised money for conservation by auctioning hunting permits. Herbert, who has been on the job only 10 months, said he also created a Balanced Resource Commission to draw information from all sides and come to a compromise.

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire said her state decided two years ago it would no longer fully fund state parks entirely from the general fund. Legislators decided to give drivers the option of contributing to state parks when renewing driver licenses.

Gregoire thanked Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer for his work on the memorandum of understanding between his state and the Canadian province of British Columbia that would protect the North Fork of the Flathead River from mining and mineral extraction.

Schweitzer called it a “complicated agreement. We have many tasks to accomplish.” He said 96 percent of the work is done on the deal, with four percent remaining.

“I believe there is enough momentum in this deal,” he said, giving credit to British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell.

Schweitzer noted that in February, Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced the Columbia River Basin Restoration Act, which would provide $40 million a year for six years to restore the Columbia River Basin.

Merkley’s bill currently has no cosponsors in the Senate, but several Congressmen have co-sponsored a similar bill by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.

A small portion of the $240 million total could be used on the North Fork of the Flathead River, Schweitzer said. The highest estimate that would be needed to pay two Canadian mining companies for divesting their operations in the Canadian Flathead is $17 million, he said.

This represents “only the actual costs of those mining companies,” Schweitzer said, adding that their invoices currently are being collected.

Schweitzer said Montana’s Congressional delegation should co-sponsor the Merkley and Blumenauer bills.

On Sunday, Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester called for four-way, international talks between the U.S., Canada, Montana and British Columbia to secure permanent protection for the North Fork of the Flathead River.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.