Montana Lawmakers Send Governor Two Competing Bills To Direct Marijuana Taxes Toward Private Land Conservation

“It increases the pace and scale of habitat stewardship and restoration treatments across rural Montana to improve our land, wildlife and water resources.”

By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press

Two bills seeking to reallocate the recreational marijuana taxes the state collects are bound for Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s (R) desk. Senate Bill 537, described by its sponsor as a “cops and conservation bill,” cleared its final legislative vote Tuesday, garnering support from three-quarters of state lawmakers. The following day, House Bill 932, which addresses only the conservation and water side of the marijuana-supported funding equation, also passed out of the Legislature.

Coordination instructions written into SB 537 specify that if both it and HB 932 are signed by Gianforte, HB 932 becomes void.

Both bills establish a habitat legacy account, which seeks to allow Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to put conservation dollars toward wildlife habitat improvement and restoration projects on private land.

Most of the habitat legacy account funding—75 percent—would initially be funneled toward the land and wildlife stewardship account, a new fund to be managed by FWP. Another 20 percent would go toward the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Project account, or WHIP, an existing program with an emphasis on noxious weed mitigation. Finally, 5 percent would go toward an account dedicated to wildlife crossings and accommodations that lawmakers recently endorsed with passage of House Bill 855.

In addition to supporting private-land conservation projects, the habitat legacy account would allow FWP to continue to use marijuana revenue to support Habitat Montana, the FWP-administered program lawmakers established in 1987 to support the open spaces wildlife need to thrive and to create public access to some of that land. Habitat Montana has helped FWP acquire and manage the Big Snowy Wildlife Management Area, the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement for working forestland in northwestern Montana and a handful of 40-year conservation leases the department has recently started securing in central and eastern Montana.

If the habitat legacy account is established, private landowners, conservation districts, conservation nonprofits, tribal government and noxious weed control districts could apply for funding to support a variety of projects, ranging from invasive species control, riparian restoration and conifer removal to water storage and fence modification or removal.

An assortment of nonprofits including the Montana Wildlife Federation, the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation threw their support behind the habitat legacy fund, saying it establishes flexibility and long-term sustainability for conservation efforts.

“It increases the pace and scale of habitat stewardship and restoration treatments across rural Montana to improve our land, wildlife and water resources in the face of drought, wildfire, invasive species and other deteriorating wildlife habitat conditions,” Wild Montana lobbyist Jake Brown told lawmakers during public testimony on SB 537 on April 17.

In addition to creating the habitat legacy account, SB 537 establishes statutory allocations for the nearly $30 million of tax collections that are currently directed to the General Fund, the catch-all state government piggybank lawmakers divvy up every other year.