[8] In 1921, the state legislature reorganized the Commission: A board of five Commissioners was established, with the power to create fish and game districts, open and close hunting seasons, and more.
[8][9] The first three preservation areas to be set aside were at Snow Creek (along the Missouri River in northern Garfield County), Pryor Mountain (now the Pryor Mountains Wild Horse Range), and the Gallatin River (in Gallatin County).
[9] On September 2, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act (commonly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act for its two key sponsors, Representative Absalom Willis Robertson [D-Va.] and Senator Key Pittman [D-Nev.]).
[10] The law created an excise tax on ammunition, archery equipment, handguns, and hunting firearms, and apportioned the revenue among state wildlife agencies on a matching funds basis (with the provision that each state ban the diversion of hunting and fishing license revenue to other uses).
[12] Congress passed the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act in 1950 (which was almost identical to the 1937 act, funding its activities through excise taxes on fishing gear and equipment),[13] allowing the Montana Fish and Game Commission to hire fisheries biologists, establish its first fisheries management projects, and initiate the first studies of problems affecting fisheries (such as logging and dams).
[12] In 1941, the state legislature gave the Fish and Game Commission the power to engage in rulemaking, and gave it additional power to open and close seasons, set bag limits, and create game preserves.
Subsection 3 of Section 1 declared that the state legislature "shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.
"[14] On July 1, 1973, the state adopted model legislation known as the Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act (Montana Code Ann.
[16] There are five members of the commission, all of whom must be citizens of the state and each one of whom represents one of the department's five geographical regions (Northcentral, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest).
[16] The commission is independent, but issues reports to and works closely with the Governor and the Director of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
[17] The Technology Services Bureau is another managerial office, but reports directly to the deputy director.
[19] In 2021, the revenue generated by hunting and fishing licenses (General Licenses) has grown to $71,641,621 and now accounts for 71.3% of total state special revenue and 54.4% of total funding for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
[22] In April 2010, Governor Brian Schweitzer asked state agencies for a 4 percent across-the-board reduction in personnel.
Pay for an entry-level game warden was $16.72 per hour, one of the lowest in the nation and much lower than a number of private and public security and law enforcement-related positions in the state.
[1][25] Maurier reassigned the department's Deputy Director, Chris Smith, to work on special projects and hired Art Noonan (a state legislator from Butte with no college degree and no hunting or fishing experience) as the new deputy director.
Prior to 2009, the department had separate divisions for communication and education, enforcement, fisheries, and wildlife.