Two bills involving the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks took unexpected directions in the Montana Legislature recently, including a bill that used license fees to pay for habitat and a bill that would allow younger hunters.

• A bill that would remove the authority for FWP to spend $12.4 million on habitat projects passed the Montana House on March 31 by 55-44.

Rep. Dave Hagstrom, R-Billings, sponsor of House Bill 403, said the reasoning behind the decision was that the Republicans don’t want FWP to buy more land. He also said there weren’t enough details in how the money might be spent.

The money had been included in Gov. Steve Bullock’s main infrastructure spending bill, HB 5, but that bill was tabled and then divided up and put into other bills.

FWP’s projects ended up in HB 403, including $849,000 for the Upland Game Bird Program, $10.6 million for Habitat Montana, $460,000 for bighorn sheep habitat and $345,000 for fishing access site acquisition.

The funding all comes from hunter and angler licenses, and the funds can only be spent for those programs. While HB 403 removed FWP’s authority to spend the money, those funds will continue to grow and are expected to reach about $25 million by next session.

The move riled some sportsmen’s groups. George Golie, a lobbyist for the Montana Wildlife Federation, suggested that House Republicans were using sportsmen’s dollars as a way to pressure the governor. He also said a number of legislators are opposed to FWP acquiring land.

When it was introduced in February, HB 403 funded the FWP projects. But in a Feb. 10 meeting of the House Appropriations Committee, Sen. Rick Ripley, R-Wolf Creek, submitted an amendment that removed FWP’s land acquisitions and easements from the infrastructure bill, saying that it was “not infrastructure” in his mind.

In a March 13 hearing of the same committee, Rep. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, said FWP had proposed seven projects for funding with the money, but “the feeling of the committee was not favorable to continuing those.”

• A bill that would allow children as young as 10 to hunt under special circumstances passed in the Senate on March 31 by 28-22.

Senate Bill 395, sponsored by Sen. Mark Blasdel, R-Kalispell, would also allow individuals from 10 to 18 years old to hunt without taking FWP’s Hunter Education courses so long as they are accompanied by a qualified mentor at least 21 years old and complete the Hunter Education courses within two years.

In response to concerns by sportsmen, Blasdel said he added restrictions limiting hunters who haven’t taken the Hunter Education courses to hunting deer, waterfowl and upland birds, and he added penalties for mentors who violate the terms of the bill.

Dave Chadwick, executive director of the Montana Wildlife Federation, has opposed the measure since it was introduced and said the additional measures didn’t go far enough. He also refuted claims by supporters of SB 395 that the bill would help address declining hunter participation.

“The biggest challenge is access,” he said. “If you look over the long suite of issues across the country, having a place to hunt and having public access to public wildlife is the real way to keep hunting strong.”