Beating the drum on I-161

Good morning. Sorry I missed you. I had to take the hard drive into Missoula yesterday for one Gig of additional RAM... what is this new language we've created? But, it's supposed to make the computer much faster. I think it is... I'm still waiting to find out.

MOGA's Executive Director, Mac Minard, was interviewed on NPR last night, along with Kurt Kephart regarding Initiative 161. I encourage you to listen to it. The actual meat of the interview only lasts a few minutes. It gives Kephart's side of the story too. Here it is:

http://www.mtpr.net/program_info/2010-02-01-132

The Great Falls Tribune had a story about it yesterday. I want to keep telling all of you out there about this because we haven't faced a bigger threat to our industry in years. This single initiative threatens the very foundation of our outfitting industry. Indulge me long enough to make a few points:

• We need to know how many clients we will have in the fall to submit our itinerary to the Forest Service. Itineraries and fees are due in April. We can't wait for the draw, and it isn't practical to pay for a 'guess' at how much business we'll do.
• Preseason deposits help keep this business chugging in the winter. They help us maintain equipment, stock, and do some marketing for the upcoming season. We rely upon that, and I-161 takes away our ability to secure clients for the upcoming season.
• The Outfitter Sponsored License is not a subsidy or a guaranteed client. It's quite the opposite. It's the most expensive license in the West, and we have to sell it to our clients to help fund the state's hunter access program. It's a market based tag, designed by law to average 5500 per year. If we oversell, the price goes up; undersell and it comes down. At the '08 and '09 price of $1500, many outfitters, including me, were forced to freeze or lower the cost of our hunts to make the overall price affordable for our clients. I hardly think that's a state subsidy!
• The idea that taking away our Outfitter Sponsored Tags will create better public access on private ground is almost laughable. On the contrary, many landowners view this as an attack on private property rights. We simply CANNOT force private landowners to allow access onto their land.

That's enough out of me for now. I need to get the rest of the morning going. As always, I encourage you to comment on this blog, or search the web for more content and comment where applicable. Don't be afraid to tell them who you are and why you care! I'm off for now- I leave you with a great photo of some lovely ladies we took to the Bob Marshall last summer. They're coming back this year with more friends- it's going to be a great trip!

Happy Trails,

Greg Gilchrist