MILES CITY – Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks expressed its appreciation to southeast MT landowners in late February for providing hunting access to more than two million acres of prime wildlife habitat through the Block Management Program.

FWP hosted landowner dinners in both Miles City and Glendive, with 146 attending in Miles City and 73 in Glendive.

Before the dinners, FWP regional access manager Travis Muscha outlined how much of an impact landowners make in the 12 counties that factor into Region 7’s Block program. There were 333 cooperators enrolled in 2024, opening 2,034,291 million acres of private, state and federal lands for recreation.

“Everyone who attends the appreciation dinners enjoys a great meal and gets to spend time visiting with their friends and neighbors they might not get to see that often,” Muscha said. “The dinners are a great way for FWP to simply say thank you and show our appreciation to all these landowners for working with FWP and opening up their land to public hunting.”

The number of cooperators has been very consistent over the years, and many landowners pride themselves on balancing production with conservation values. In 2026, some will have been with the program for 30 years.

Last year, 52,402 hunters utilized the region’s Block Management Program - 29,869 of them residents and 22,533 nonresidents. They totaled 86,818 hunter days in the field.

Those hunters who submitted comment cards expressed 93 percent satisfaction with their experiences.

Landowners are asked to assess their experience, and those who did were 99 percent satisfied with the program and 99 percent satisfied with the hunters they hosted.

Muscha shared a slide show consisting of photos submitted by hunters who used the Thank a Landowner Portal (http://www.surveymonkey.com/r/thank-a-landowner-2024) to send letters and photos of appreciation.

Several groups also donated door prizes and raffle prizes. Hunters for Access, a local group of sportsmen that coordinates volunteers for work days to thank cooperators, donated several door prizes. Mystery Ranch based in Bozeman donated thousands of dollars worth of outdoor items. Star Structures contributed a calf shed, Bloedorns donated treated fence posts and Muggli Bros. Inc. gave feed for a raffle. Rounding out the list of donors were the Colstrip Sportsmen’s Club and Tractor Supply Company in Glendive.

FWP is in the process of drafting contracts for Block Management cooperators for the upcoming season; if landowners have questions about participating in Block Management, contact FWP at 406-234-0900 or visit https://fwp.mt.gov/hunt/landownerprograms/block-management.