With these ideas in mind, we decided to go out and talk to other communities about them. We had meetings in Billings, Great Falls, Wolf Point, Miles City, Glendive, Sidney, Glasgow, Plentywood, and Lewistown. We advertised the meetings on the radio stations and the newspapers in the communities prior to each meeting. There were many ideas discussed and much debate, but two things became crystal clear after all of these meetings were completed. First, the warm-water anglers of Montana wanted to protect and enhance their fisheries for today and they wanted to preserve angling opportunities for their children for tomorrow. Second, they had absolutely no qualms about paying for this project with a self-imposed $5.00 warm-water fishing stamp.
The hatchery has created a huge amount of interest and, for the first time in years, you can actually see communities and citizens pulling together for a common cause. Let me explain something about warm-water anglers and how they operate. First, these anglers are very mobile. Most of them own fishing boats and trailers and can move from one body of water to another at the drop of a hat. If the fishing in lakes in Montana is poor, these people just back their pickups up to their boats and away they go to a different state or province where the fishing is good. So, if the fishing is poor, first you lose your resident anglers spending their dollars in our local economies and second, you don't attract non-resident anglers to spend their dollars in your communities. Now, if fishing is good on our lakes and rivers, we keep resident anglers at home and they spend their dollars locally. If the fishing is very good, you also attract out-of-state anglers who spend their dollars in our communities. If we develop an exceptional fishery, we can attract large, national media events like The In-Fisherman program or the Professional Walleye Tour that bring our lakes into millions of people's living rooms through television. These things are actually happening at Fort Peck Lake right now, but, if we don't take action to protect and enhance our fisheries, these things will disappear.
So, with these ideas we went to the 1998-99 legislative session in Helena, Montana. We worked hard as a grass-roots group and, along with Walleyes Unlimited of Montana and the Montana Bass Federation, we were able to get the new warm-water stamp and the new Fort Peck Fish Hatchery designated and signed into law by Governor Racicot. We did not come out of the legislature, however, without an amendment that stated if we didn't get some Federal funding by June 30 of 2001, then the hatchery project would be dead.
In September of 1999, we had a meeting with all interested parties and tried to come up with a way to get a conceptual design and cost study done. We asked the Corps of Engineers how much it would cost if they did the study. They told us that the cost would be approximately $250,000. Senator Burns had been lobbying to get this fully funded, but wasn't successful. Instead, he was instrumental in getting a 50/50 cost share from the Corps budget from planning assistance to states. The Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks didn't have any funds to pay the other $125,000, nor did the State. So that left the private sector and the Citizens for a Fort Peck Hatchery to come up with the other 50 percent for the cost share.
We knew that the warm-water stamp would generate monies to pay this 50 percent cost share, but it wouldn't go on sale until March 1 of 2000. So how could we come up with $125,000 by December, 1999? Well, where there is a will, there is a way. First we contacted the Montana Department of FWP and asked them if they would release the monies from the warm-water stamp to repay a loan if we could secure a loan for $125,000. At first the Dept. told us they didn't know how much the stamp would raise annually, but they seemed to think it would be at least $125,000.
Next, by law, the only thing that the stamp money can be used for is construction, operation, and maintenance of the new hatchery. So, they had to determine if a conceptual design and cost estimate were indeed part of construction. The Dept. of FWP attorneys agreed that design was part of construction and, therefore, if we could secure a loan, then they would release whatever stamp monies were available to repay the loan.
We then approached First Community Bank in Glasgow and asked if their lending institution would be willing to make a loan of $125,000 using the warm-water stamp for collateral. At the same time, we talked with Nemont Telephone Cooperative of Scobey, MT, and asked them if they also might be interested in helping with a loan. After about a week or so, Mr. Sam Waters, President of First Community Bank, had us meet with three other banking officers from Glasgow. We explained our plan to borrow the $125,000 and have the stamp funds repay the loan when the monies became available. After another week, Mr. Waters called and stated that they had 14 banks, two credit unions, and Nemont Telephone Cooperative that would loan the $125,000 so the study could begin.
By this time,-it is December, 1999, and we have to have the conceptual design done and a firm cost estimate to give to our federal legislators by at least March of 2000. As of March 30, 2000, the Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, finished the conceptual design. The Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, did a superb job of doing the study and got it to us in an extremely short time frame.
The study has now been given to the Montana Congressional delegation. We believe that the federal government has an obligation to help with this funding. The government came to Montana in the 1930's and built Fort Peck Dam. Montana and its citizens were promised low-cost power and irrigation from Fort Peck project. Later Fort Peck finally received a recreation status, as well. To this day, neither Montana nor its citizens, past or present, have realized any low-cost power or irrigation from Fort Peck. Montana, meanwhile, has spend many millions of dollars to improve recreational opportunities around Fort Peck Lake. When the dam was built, the water behind the dam flooded some of the most productive agricultural land in five eastern Montana counties. That land is out of production forever. Montana and the counties around Fort Peck Lake have built and maintained the roads around Fort Peck Lake for decades with little or no federal help.
We also feel that the Missouri River dams have stopped the migration routes of some fish species, especially the Pallid Sturgeon. This fish is now listed on the threatened and endangered species list. We also know that sauger is another fish native to the Missouri that has dwindling numbers and is a species of special concern to the Montana Dept. of FWP.
As we look ahead into the new millennium, we realize that small agricultural-based communities will have to diversify in order to remain solvent. We, in our communities, are already seeing stores closing their doors forever. Some stores, such as J.C. Penney stores, have been a landmark in the communities of Glasgow and Miles City for generations. These stores will be missed on county tax rolls and by the people they served. We realize that federal money spent in Montana to construct a fish hatchery will benefit many generations of citizens, both resident and non-resident. We know that people come to Montana to recreate more and more every year. These people come from all over the United States and we feel that this fish hatchery will help us to be able to provide exciting recreational experiences for residents and non-residents for many years to come.
A common misconception about the Fort Peck Fish Hatchery is that all the fish raised at the hatchery will go into Fort Peck Lake. This is not at all true. Fish from this hatchery will be planted wherever the Dept. of FWP has a need for them. The stocking of fish in other Montana lakes and rivers will help other communities in Montana realize economic benefits also. In decades to follow, we will still be here as stewards of recreation and the new Fort Peck Fish Hatchery will realize its potential in fish management, economic opportunities, and as a promise to citizens all over this great nation that Montana is still the Last Best Place to come and recreate.
In closing, I would like to thank the committee for hearing our testimony. We would also like the committee to know that the Citizens for a Fort Peck Fish Hatchery has not been paid for anything that we have done to date. When we started this project over 18 months ago, we knew that it would take time and we have not been deterred. We have imposed a $5.00 warm-water stamp on ourselves to help pay the operation and maintenance of the Fort Peck Hatchery once operational. We are asking for the federal government to form a partnership with the State of Montana, the private sector, and citizens to make this hatchery project a true win/win situation for all parties involved.