www.unitedpropertyownersofmt.com

"Uniting Property Owners to Protect Property Rights."

United Property Owners of Montana, Inc.

WELCOME

Montana’s hunting heritage is under attack.  Our state has had a proud tradition of landowners and sportsmen working together to respect property rights, increase hunting opportunities, and improve habitat for wildlife.  But a small group of sportsmen with the backing of some of Montana’s most-powerful environmental groups want to change all that—they think the public should have unlimited access to private land and they’re willing to take away the property rights of anyone who stands in their way.

Late in 2007, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission took an unprecedented turn by limiting archery elk permits in 36 hunting districts and archery antelope permits statewide.  Their justification was the need to take away the certainty of a guaranteed license to attempt to prevent the leasing and purchasing of land due to an open license system.  In spite of the overwhelming public opposition to the proposal from landowners, businesses, and industry leaders, the Commission unanimously adopted this controversial plan.  The FWP Commission’s action was not based on biological management of game animals, but inspired by the wrong-headed concept held by a minority of Montanans that landowners should bear the cost of managing wildlife completely without compensation or input.

This new proposal was a blatant move by the FWP Commission to ignore public comment and use their license structure as a means of social engineering, and the seeds of formation of a united group of property owners were planted;  landowners, ranchers, outfitters, and sportsmen who had worked together during the tentative process to offer alternative solutions to the perceived problems the FWP Commission was attempting to address.  As they saw the majority of the public’s efforts ignored in favor of appeasing special interest groups, it became the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Now that the FWP Commission has begun to use their big game license structure in a punitive fashion against landowners in an attempt to coerce access to private land for the general public, they’ve created an intolerable situation.  UPOM was created as a means for landowners, sportsmen, affected businesses and others to band together to fight back.