The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is looking into simplifying fishing and hunting licenses in the state.
Right now there are about 100 different types of licenses—and FWP wants to cut that down.
Department Director Jeff Hagener has appointed a twelve member council to study the issue for the next half-year or so. The council will try to streamline the process without reducing the amount of revenue coming in.
Information Bureau Chief Tom Palmer says about 80 percent of FWP’s overall funding comes from license sales. It’s not always a reliable source. Non-resident license sales have been down the last couple years; Palmer estimates as much as a million dollars annually.
"Over the last year, there's been as much belt-tightening at Fish, Wildlife and Parks as we can possibly do just with what we have available," he said.
The council begins meeting August 13th. By next March, the group hopes to take recommendations to the public in order to craft a policy agenda for the 2015 Legislature.