FWP creates new communications role to promote department (2024)

In an attempt to spread Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’s news, the agency has hired a new strategic communications officer.

Garrett Turner, a press secretary for Gov. Greg Gianforte since 2019, was hired in June for the position out of a field of 81 applicants. He’s also worked as a fly-fishing guide and has a background in radio and television journalism.

His starting pay is $40.12 an hour, which works out to $83,449 a year. That’s a $11,440 boost from what Turner was making in the governor’s office.

“It was quite a talented group of people to pick from, and Garrett was the consensus one to pass out of the group,” said Greg Lemon, communications bureau chief for the agency and a member of the hiring committee.

He said neither FWP Director Dustin Temple nor the governor had any involvement in the process. Turner declined to make a comment on the record when asked about the job, but Lemon later forwarded a statement from him.

“My family is important to me, and they come first,” he said in the statement. “This position aligns with my passion and love for the outdoors and provides me greater time at home with my family.”

Proactive position

The idea to create the position dates back more than a year ago to when Hank Worsech was still the FWP director, Lemon said.

“We need to be more proactive, to get attention on policy decisions or conservation issues like grizzly bear management,” Lemon said. “Garrett is here to help us be more proactive about what the agency is doing around the state for fish and wildlife resources.”

However, action to create Turner’s position wasn’t taken until this year. Worsech resigned in June 2023 citing health reasons. Temple, who was then deputy director, was promoted to director. His employment at FWP dates back to when he was a computer information systems manager.

At the same time FWP is adding a staff person for media outreach, staff at the state's newspapers has seen a decade-long decline. Nonprofit news outlets have sought to fill the void. Fewer people watch television news as subscription services have grown. And radio stations have few local news reporters with the exception of the nonprofit public stations.

Changes

Under the Gianforte administration, media communication with Fish, Wildlife & Parks has been more filtered, with regional communications and other staff often forwarding questions to Lemon. That was a change from previous years when FWP was touted as one of the most open agencies in the state for media availability.

“There was a comfort we could talk about things,” said Ron Aasheim, who retired as chief of the FWP communications staff seven years ago.

During his 42 years in the department, Aasheim worked for 11 different directors, four Democrat and three Republican governors.

“So, we had a little bit of everything,” he said. “But we always felt they were making decisions on the best information, and they stood up for the resource and they knew about balance.”

He noted Montanans’ passion regarding fish and wildlife issues have always made the FWP communications job special as well as difficult and challenging. As for the changes in the department, he noted, “Elections have consequences.”

Comms division

FWP’s communications division employs 28 people who work in such diverse areas as the agency’s magazine, its website, video production and social media. Among the 28 are communication education managers in seven FWP regions spread across the state. They are responsible for overseeing the agency’s hunter education programs, along with other tasks and report to the regional managers.

Since being hired at FWP, Turner oversaw the Gianforte press event regarding trout population improvements on the Big Hole River and a press conference in Billings on Monday related to low mule deer populations in Eastern Montana.

“Our job here at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is to manage Montana’s important fish and wildlife resources in a way that’s being completely transparent with Montanans,” FWP director Temple told members of the media on Monday. “Not only providing accurate information and data but also explaining the context to what those numbers mean.”

FWP has adjusted to many challenges over the years relying on “contemporary science and data” to recommend management decisions to the Fish and Wildlife Commission, Temple added. The seven-member commission that makes the final decisions, however, is appointed by the governor.

Pay scales

Although Lemon is chief of communications, Turner will report to Lemon’s boss, FWP chief of staff Melissa Watson.

“He works closely with my staff,” Lemon said, which is more important than who Turner reports to, he added.

Watson was hired in March, coming from Intermountain, a Helena-based nonprofit that focuses on mental and behavioral health for children. Her salary is $61.09 an hour, or $127,067 a year. She replaced FWP veteran Quentin Kujala who moved into the chief of conservation policy position. Kujala makes $58.96 an hour, or $122,636 a year.

Montana posts government employees’ hourly pay scale on its SABHRSwebsite.

FWP turnover

Staff turnover among FWP leadership has been frequent in the past few years, including the loss of law enforcement, legal services, parks/recreation and human resources directors, the removal of the fisheries chief who was placed on administrative leave this spring pending an internal investigation and most recently the dismissal of chief of operations Mike Volesky.

Because the issue is a personnel matter, FWP officials will not comment on the reason behind Ryce’s removal or how long it might last.

In a Montana Free Press story, Volesky said his firing was part of the Gianforte administration’s political house-cleaning of FWP. Volesky had worked for Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer before moving to FWP.

Lemon told the Free Press Volesky was dismissed followinga “thorough investigation by an outside, independent investigator.”

Last week, Sarah Clerget announced she was resigning as FWP’s chief legal counsel after less than a year in the position. That division has also seen the loss of veteran staff in the last two years.

In 2023 the Legislative Audit Division found the enforcement division’s staff riddled with morale problems due to fear of retribution from managers. A current audit is examining FWP’s Human Resources office and its hiring practices.

“The thing that’s been really hard for us is all of the stuff that’s been happening has been spun off politically,” Lemon said.

In Montana, fish and wildlife issues are often political. Campaign slogans and billboards have featured candidates wearing a blaze orange hunting vest and carrying a rifle for a photo op to show their support for the tradition, whether they’ve hunted much or not. That’s because voters may cross party lines on such close-to-heart topics as public access to public lands.

Natural resources issues will be campaign topics again this year as Gianforte faces a challenge from a political newcomer, Democrat Ryan Busse. Both men have touted their outdoor credentials in seeking Montanans’ votes. Both have also faced minor fines for violating FWP statutes.

Yet hiring Turner to promote FWP’s work in an election year didn’t have anything to do with politics, this year’s election or administrations, Lemon said.

“All we evaluated in hiring Garrett on was the skill he would bring to the agency for the purpose of his position.”