For the 2020 hunting season, approximately 1,200 landowners have enrolled more than 7 million acres of land into the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks Block Management Program.

The program helps landowners manage hunting activities and provides the public with free hunting access to private land. Landowner participation is voluntary and contracts are negotiated annually in the spring and summer. The vast majority of the 7 million acres are made up of private property and the remaining are "landlocked public lands."

According to Fish Wildlife and Parks Hunting Access Bureau Chief Jason Kool, there are about 150,000 more acres available this year compared to last and about 100 more landowners participating in the program. Kool said this is the first time in several years that FWP has seen an increase in the amount of acreage enrolled in the program.

Included in the pool of landowners is Southern Pine Plantations, the Georgia-based property investment company that purchased more than 600,000 acres of timberland in Northwest Montana from Weyerhaeuser in December 2019.

At first, the acquisition prompted unrest among lumber industry stakeholders, conservationists and outdoor enthusiasts as many believed the company would halt public access to the lands — something Weyerhaeuser had offered when the acreage was under the company’s ownership.

According to FWP’s agreement with the company, hunters may occupy nearly 565,000 acres of Southern Pines timberlands between Kalispell and Libby from Sept. 1, 2020, through May 31, 2021. Bighorn sheep, black bear, elk, moose, mountain lions, wolves and other species may be hunted on the property.

This parcel is the largest in the program for FWP Region 1, which is bound by the Flathead Indian Reservation to the south and Glacier National Park to the north. According to block management documents, more than one dozen landowners in the region agreed to allow public access on more than 700,00 acres in Flathead, Lincoln, Lake and Sanders counties.

Southern Pines timberlands aside, Stimson Lumber Co., F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber, Columbia Falls Aluminum Company, a handful of private ranch owners and others have all entered into contracts with FWP for this hunting season. Each contract is unique to the individual company and hunting offers differ from parcel to parcel.

According to FWP’s website, there is no charge to hunt on block management lands. Program funding comes from the sale of various licenses, including a resident and nonresident hunting access enhancement fee, nonresident upland game bird licenses, nonresident combination deer/elk licenses and chances sold in the Supertag license lottery.

Block management has provided free public hunting experiences across the state since its inception in 1985 and according to FWP’s website, has forged “positive working relationships between landowners, hunters, and resource managers.”

For details on block management area, hunting restrictions in each area, maps and more, go to http://fwp.mt.gov/hunting/hunterAccess/blockman/

Reporter Kianna Gardner can be reached at 758-4407 or kgardner@dailyinterlake.com