The Madison River Citizen’s Advisory Committee has met twice, the latest meeting held yesterday, Wednesday, in Ennis. The first meeting was dedicated to member introductions, process explanation, and ground rule development.

One of the agreements made at the first meeting was to render online discussion of the group’s progress as simple bullet points. Why? In many member’s experience, detailed explanations about individual member statements, positions, or opinions only cloud or distort the work at hand. Remember, the CAC is working on draft recommendations at this point and nothing is settled.

And, the public is welcome to all meetings and encouraged to witness the CAC discussions and offer comments of their own. Future meetings are scheduled for

• July 18, 4 – 9 p.m. in Ennis
• August 21, same time and place
• September 26 and 27, daylong meetings in Bozeman

As a consequence of this statement policy, I’ve not offered any updates until now. I asked my fellow members yesterday if I could report on this blog any progress or developments, and the unanimous response was ‘Yes’, so long as I stuck to a simple outline of events to date.

Yesterday, we welcomed a new CAC member from West Yellowstone. Jon Juracek, longtime fishing business operator, was selected by FWP from the prior list of applicants. CAC members agreed that John’s representation of West Yellowstone fills a gap and will only enhance the process.

We then shared our individual interests, looking to understand their origin and impact, and identifying common themes among them. In this process, interests are stated as “It’s in my interest to . . . because . . . ” For example, a member might say, “It’s in my interest to keep the river clean and the fishery healthy because I like to fish there often.”

We also spent time addressing the basic tasks outlined for the CAC (see our charter) and reviewing data on use levels for a variety of recreational participants, access site distribution, fisheries information, and characteristics of the river itself.

For complete details on the progress of the CAC and other available information, check the FWP Madison River CAC site. You’ll find a list of the CAC members and the CAC Charter, as well as the most recent meeting minutes.