Director Clark calls landowners hours after encounter to offer support

Two landowners were picking mushrooms about a mile north of Choteau on Wednesday night when they were charged by an adult female grizzly bear. The men shot and killed the bear at close range, and fortunately, they were uninjured during the encounter.

“I spoke to John and Justin shortly after the incident and they were both still shook up,” Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Director Christy Clark said. “They told me their story and it was clear it was very traumatic. What’s important here is they’re ok.” Read more

Contact: Lt. Mark DePew, 989-297-1946

A 76-year-old man and 66-year-old woman from Ann Arbor were rescued Tuesday after their sailboat ran aground in high winds and rough water on Lake Huron. The boaters launched near the Point Au Gres Marina and Campground, located on Green Drive, and planned to sail north to a boat slip they own at Tawas Marina. At 2:10 p.m., Arenac County Central Dispatch received a 911 call regarding a boat that possibly had capsized off the south side of Point Au Gres, near North Rumsey Road. Read more

A fast-spreading invasive species, the Box Tree Moth Caterpillar , has arrived in Metro Detroit, causing significant damage to boxwood plants.

After consultation with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department captured and relocated an adult male grizzly bear on May 16.

The grizzly bear was captured for cattle depredation on private land. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the grizzly bear was relocated to the Glade Creek drainage approximately 2.5 miles south of Yellowstone National Park. Read more

A young female grizzly bear was recently mistaken for a black bear by a hunter in the Panhandle Region

On the evening of May 9, a hunter shot and killed a young female grizzly bear he mistook for a black bear. The bear was killed in the Priest Lake drainage of Idaho’s Panhandle. After identifying the bear at the scene as a grizzly, the hunter immediately self-reported via the Citizen’s Against Poaching hotline and is fully cooperating with Idaho Fish and Game on the ongoing investigation.

The incident serves as an important reminder that grizzly bears can be found in portions of the Panhandle and Upper Snake Regions and occasionally in other regions in Idaho. Grizzly bears are protected Read more

Did you know that the DNR’s Academy of Natural Resources gives educators from across the state the opportunity to learn about conservation trends from wildlife biologists, foresters, conservation officers and fisheries staff? It’s true – and you can be a part of it all this summer.

Our expert-led sessions are designed to empower educators with practical knowledge on a range of vital topics, including effective strategies for incorporating outdoor education into the classroom and tackling subjects like climate change. This year also includes a special session just for pre-kindergarten through third grade teachers, who can become certified in the early elementary programs for the award-winning Project WILD, Project WET and Project Learning Tree curriculum.

If you are interested, join us July 13-18 for the Academy of Natural Resources Classic at the Ralph A. MacMullan Conference Center, located?near Roscommon, or Aug. 3-8 for ANR North in the Upper Peninsula. Read more

The Wild Sheep Foundation (WSF) and many others in the hunting, conservation and ranching communities are concerned about a recent outbreak of New World screwworm in Mexico that is quickly moving north towards the U.S. This parasite is devastating to livestock and native wildlife and WSF strongly supports legislation being proposed to prevent and mitigate this infestation.

The New World Screwworm (NWS) is a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on livestock, wildlife, and in rare cases, humans, and populations are moving toward the United States at an alarming rate. They can cause serious damage to their host, including death. Read more

Petition cites evidence of corruption, secret meetings and exclusion of tribes and other groups from public meetings

Today, May 16, 2025, the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (SAF) filed a petition with Gov. Ferguson asking for the removal of Washington Fish and Wildlife Commissioners Barbara Baker, Lorna Smith, Melanie Rowland, and John Lehmkuhl after evidence of corruption and bad practices was uncovered by the organization in its lawsuit to force disclosure of internal communications.

“We thought the evidence of corruption might be bad, but the mountain of evidence we’ve uncovered is like nothing we’ve seen before,” said Evan Heusinkveld, President & CEO of the Sportsmen’s Alliance. “This is bad government on steroids. Secret meetings, exclusion of tribes and others from public meetings, an obvious and open contempt for the public, and a total disregard of the law – it’s all there, and it’s obvious that this is simply the way these four commissioners do business. We are hopeful the governor stands up for the good people of Washington and shuts this down.”

Governor Ferguson has the full authority to remove Fish and Wildlife Commissioners for cause, and the SAF petition is replete with examples of behaviors that call for the governor to exercise this authority and put an end to these ongoing abuses. The petition also references a multitude of other documents the organization has that illustrate additional examples of how deep this corruption goes with these commissioners. Read more

The House Committee on Natural Resources’ budget reconciliation bill would sell public land and send the proceeds to the Treasury. The Boone and Crockett Club objects to this – as we have said we would do. In budget reconciliation, the Treasury is the only allowable destination for revenue. Under existing law or regular congressional direction, revenue from land transactions goes into a fund for the betterment of public lands. This is how it should continue to be.

As the oldest conservation group in the country, founded by Theodore Roosevelt, we see from the perspective of our long view of American conservation another important point: The existing laws for selling and exchanging appropriate parcels of federal land should be available to be exercised expeditiously. They are not. Read more