Director of Montana Ag Department named new FWP director

Laura Lundquist

(Missoula Current) As of Monday, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will have a new director.

On Friday, Governor Greg Gianforte announced the appointment of Christy Clark as FWP director. Clark is the director of the Montana Department of Agriculture, a position she has held since January 2022.

“Christy Clark is a strong leader with the skills needed to lead the agency tasked with protecting Montana’s cherished recreational opportunities and public access to public lands,” Gianforte said in a release. “With her record of leadership, I am confident in her as she takes on this new role at FWP. I appreciate her willingness to serve in this new capacity after her successful tenure at (the Department of Agriculture).”

At the same time, FWP acting director Marina Yoshioka sent a message to all employees announcing that Christy Clark would take over as director as of Monday. On Nov. 15, Gianforte announced that Dustin Temple would retire as director at the end of the year. There was no mention of Temple in either Gianforte’s announcement, and the FWP email did not say whether Temple was leaving FWP of his own accord.

In the message, Yoshioka said Clark’s “strong background and dedication to public service make her an excellent fit to lead us into the upcoming Legislative Session and beyond.”

Clark is very active in Montana’s agricultural industry but has no experience with fish and wildlife. Clark has served the Department of Agriculture in various roles, including deputy director, agricultural sciences administrator  and agricultural development and marketing bureau chief.

A rancher from the Choteau area, she graduated from California State University Sacramento with a degree in English, owned a construction company, and served in the Montana House of Representatives from 2011 to 2016, where she sat on the committees of agriculture and business and labor, among others.

In 2011, Clark sponsored three bills related to FWP but they didn’t favor sportsmen. The only bill that passed was House Bill 287, which allowed FWP to collect wolf hides to help finance livestock loss mitigation. A related bill, HB 470, sought to increase hunting license fees to pay for livestock mitigation but it died in committee.

Finally, HB 286 would have created a “wildlife population management account” to be funded by the sale of conservation licenses, which are a prerequisite for obtaining hunting and fishing licenses. The bill required that $110,000 from sportsmen’s dollars be transferred annually to the account.

That money would be used only to manage populations of predatory animals, and “the department shall give priority to expending funds deposited under this subsection (2)(a) to manage BEARS, WOLVES, AND coyotes and shall contract with the United States department of agriculture wildlife services for this purpose,” according to the bill.

The associated Legislative fiscal note pointed out that using sportsmen’s dollars for other than wildlife management “would result in the subsequent loss of eligibility for Pittman/Robertson, Dingell/Johnson, and State Wildlife Grants funding amounting to $20,433,953 federal dollars per year.” HB 286 died in process.

With Friday’s announcement, it is anticipated that Gianforte will nominate Clark for Legislative confirmation as FWP director during the next session.

Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.