Flathead Lawmaker Wants to Double Fines for Watercraft Inspection Station Scofflaws
Rep. Tom Millett, R-Marion, says House Bill 242 would sharpen the enforcement teeth for wardens who since 2017 have issued twice as many warnings to boaters who drive by stations than citations.
By Tristan Scott
Eight years ago, the detection of quagga mussels east of the Continental Divide prompted Montana officials to expand their defensive shield guarding the Flathead Basin against the threat of aquatic invasive species (AIS), which could upend the region’s ecological and economic wellbeing and have devastating consequences throughout the Columbia River Basin.
Because invasive mussels hitchhike from one waterbody to another on trailered watercraft, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and its coalition of state, federal, tribal, and nonprofit partners focused their vigilance on high-traffic corridors entering the state, or crossing west over the Continental Divide, where they installed a network of mandatory watercraft inspection stations. Since 2017, more than 1 million boats (1,161,871) have undergone inspections at the stations, where officials have intercepted hundreds of mussel-infested boats, decontaminating and quarantining them before it was too late.
Still, gaining compliance from the boating public remains an ongoing challenge, according to FWP, which supports legislation introduced by Rep. Tom Millett, R-Marion, whose House District 2 is situated along a popular corridor for boaters trailering vessels between eastern Montana and Idaho along U.S. Highway 2. According to Millett, who introduced his AIS measure before the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee late last month, the initiative would double the fines for “boaters who dodge our aquatic invasive species boat check stations.”
“Is that tough? It’s absolutely tough,” Millett told members of the committee on Jan. 28. “Because we can’t risk having aquatic invasive species being introduced into Montana to hurt our fishing industry, our tourism industry, our hydroelectric facilities, our water treatment plants, or any of our industries that employ thousands of Montanans and depend on clean, mussel-free water to do so. We need to send a message to everyone who wants to come to Montana that we are serious about keeping our waters clean now and for future generations.”
The Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee had not taken action on the bill as of Feb. 3. There were no opponents who testified against the measure.
In the 15 years since the 61st Montana Legislature adopted the Aquatic Invasive Species Act, the fines for evading boat check stations have not been adjusted, Millett said, remaining set at $500 for a first offense and $750 for a second offense. Under HB 242, the fine for a first offense would be $1,000 while a second offense could cost negligent boaters $1,500.

It also strikes from the 2009 statute language giving law enforcement the option of issuing a warning in lieu of a penalty. Although FWP Chief of Law Enforcement Ron Howell said wardens would still have discretion to issue a warning on a case-by-case basis, the logic of removing the language for the bill is that, as it’s currently written, the statute encourages officers to issue warnings instead of fines as an educational measure.
“Accidents do happen and game wardens will still have the discretion to issue a written warning,” Howell told committee members.
But according to proponents of HB 242, wardens have perhaps been issuing too many warnings.
Despite having installed signs, flagging and lighted message boards to “clearly indicate the inspection station and the mandatory need to stop,” FWP wardens last year issued 47 AIS-related citations and 91 warnings for failure to stop at inspection stations, and seven citations and 42 warnings for non-residents who didn’t purchase the mandatory vessel prevention pass.
Since 2017, the agency has issued 708 citations and 1,422 warnings to boaters who drive by stations, fail to purchase a mandatory vessel prevention pass or whose boats are infested with invasive species. Although FWP officials say compliance has improved in recent years due in large part to the emphasis they place on education, outreach and public engagement, proponents of HB 242 say the time for more aggressive enforcement has come.
“We believe the state of Montana is far beyond the period of time when grace can be given to boaters who transport aquatic invasive species,” Jeff Lukas, of Montana Trout Unlimited, told committee members. “Warning should not be an option anymore when the potential for aquatic invasive species to drastically affect our fisheries and infrastructures is so high.”
Dan Handlin, president of the Little Bitterroot Lake Association, said his group’s 140 members — who reside in Rep. Millett’s House District 2 — have a motto.
“And that motto is to keep the lake pristine for future generations,” Handlin said during the committee hearing. “But that task is made harder because of certain weak aspects of our state’s defenses against aquatic invasive species. Last year, 67 percent of the vehicles blowing past inspection stations without stopping were given warnings. Unless we improve our defensive program, [an AIS infestation] will eventually happen in Montana, and it will happen on my lake.”

Even with a more robust defensive firewall in place, experts say plenty of boaters are still crossing into Montana, and into the Flathead River Basin, without receiving an inspection.
For example, on Flathead Lake, a region-specific rule requires boaters launching on Flathead Lake to be inspected if they have left the basin.
According to FWP’s 2024 AIS Inspection Report, 1,670 Flathead boaters were interviewed last year, and 31 boaters, or 1.8%, didn’t get inspected entering the Flathead Basin.
“Most of these vessels had launched just outside the basin but still in Montana,” according to the report. “There were a few from Washington and Idaho, but the majority remained west of the Continental Divide in Montana.”
Phil Matson, a research coordinator at the Flathead Lake Biological Station who has helped lead the AIS program for the past eight years, said the Canadian province of Alberta has a robust AIS prevention program and recognizes noncompliance with its inspection stations as a serious offense by issuing fines of $4,200 for a first offense. He said House Bill 242 “removes the ‘I didn’t know excuse’ by removing the warning clause” while still giving officers discretion.
“But we have had this law long enough,” Matson said. “The time for issuing warnings is over.”