Commission votes down Quiet Waters petition

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission Friday voted unanimously against the Quiet Waters petition, which would have banned motorized use on a host of waters across the state, including a portion of the Flathead River.

The Quiet Water Petition was crafted by the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers last spring. Locally, it looked to ban personal watercraft on the Flathead River from the confluence of the South Fork south to the Highway 35 bridge. In addition, motor boats would have been restricted to no wake from June 1 to Oct. 15.

On the Whitefish River, it proposed a no-wake speed from July 1 to Sept. 15 from JP Road downstream to the confluence of the Stillwater River and banned personal watercraft as well. All told, the rule proposed motorized restrictions on 17 Montana rivers and streams.

FWP staff previously recommended that the petition be denied, noting it already has regulations in place. But the FWP commission at the time went ahead with the petition and crafted new rules based on it for public comment.

During a public hearing earlier this year in Kalispell, almost no one spoke in favor of the petition, even though most users of the river are non-motorized floaters.

Mike Howe, a fisherman, columnist and Flathead Lake guide was one of those in opposition of the petition. Contacted Friday, he was pleased about the vote of the commission.

“All of the public comment has been against it,” he said. “Let the laws in play be the rule of the land.”

Howe conceded that there probably are some waters where using a personal watercraft isn’t a good idea, but the petition wasn’t the way to go about it and a more open dialogue needed to be in place.

“I think a lot of people were disillusioned by the process from the beginning,” he said.

Commissioners, on a 3-2 vote, also voted against extending the public comment period for six months.

Jeffrey Lukas, Montana Chapter coordinator for the backcountry Hunters and Anglers, said he was disappointed in both votes. The group would have liked the additional six months so it could reach out to nonmotorized boaters.

He said there was also misinformation out there that suggested the group was against all motorized use on rivers, but that was never the case.