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Fish, Wildlife and Parks

Steward the fish, wildlife, parks, and recreational resources for the public, now and into the future.

Goals

Agency Goals and Objectives

State Strategic Plan Goal Reference: Citizen/Partner

Objectives

  • Expand functionality within the agency's MyFWP mobile app
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Design for Human Experience
  • Begin to incorporate generative AI functions in the agency's online license system
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Streamline and elevate customer interactions
  • Develop SLAs (service level agreements) for the agency's internally supported applications
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Enable Strategic Solutions

State Strategic Plan Goal Reference: Financial Stewardship

Objectives

  • Complete a cost analysis of the agency's and customer's costs to complete a transaction in person or at an office. Develop a plan to create financial equity across transaction types.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Improve Financial Transparency
  • Complete a POC (proof of concept) and calculate the ROI of using the state's desktop purchasing contract for agency Law Enforcement.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Improve Business Value

State Strategic Plan Goal Reference: Internal Process

Objectives

  • Create and maintain a cyclic calendar of agency programs, processes, and projects that require recurring support from TSD.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Improve Service Delivery
  • Offer additional training options to help employees identify deepfakes.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Provide Security by Design
  • Complete comprehensive inventory of remaining manual processes, identify processes that would improve if digitized, and prioritize the processes for digitization.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Improve Digital Tranformation

State Strategic Plan Goal Reference: Workforce Capacity

Objectives

  • Ensure employees have access to technology resources needed to successfully perform their jobs.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Improve Strategic Partnerships
  • Participate in the agency-wide culture committee and create a TSD sub-culture committee.
    State Strategic Plan Objective Reference: Build a People First Culture

Information Technology Resources and Capabilities

Number of FTE: 8

Provide in-house development of software specific to the natural resource management mission of the department. These FTE also support the ongoing enhancement and maintenance of all FWP developed systems with particular emphasis on the agency’s mission critical applications.

Number of FTE: 4

Promote communication, collaboration and integration. Dedicated to the study of building, evolving and operating rapidly-changing resilient systems at scale. Ensuring data integrity, security, and efficient database design; quality assurance; and secure implementations are critical functions of this bureau.

Number of FTE: 9

Provide geospatial data acquisition, management, analysis, dissemination and education for the department and the public. Staff is also responsible for the development and maintenance of web mapping applications used by staff and the public.

Number of FTE: 10

The Network Services Bureau (NSB) is responsible for the installation and management of all computers,
servers, printers and other technology resources. To improve communication and meet agency needs, the
NSB provides a service desk function that serves as the first level of support for employees and contractors
conducting business for the agency. NSB also serves as a liaison between the agency and SITSD for wide area
network services.

Number of FTE: 5.5

Provide project management, business analysis, and development support services to FWP’s technology program and its stakeholders. Process and policy development and customer outreach and relations are an important part of this group's mission, as well.

Number of FTE: 3

This unit houses the CIO:
Responsible for developing, communicating, and implementing the vision and strategy for all technology at FWP. The CIO serves as the administrator of the Technology Services Division, guiding their individual efforts in a unified and strategic direction. The CIO is also the primary technology expert for FWP, responsible for identifying changing trends and making high-level decisions and changes to department-wide IT direction. The CIO makes decisions regarding technology policies, projects, and budget.
The Technology Program Coordinator
Provides administration of the FWP IT Security Program, Records Management Program, and servers as the agency Continuity of Operations Program Coordinator.
And the Technical Strategist
Oversees the current technology stack, creates relevant policies, and possess the business knowledge necessary to align tech-related decisions with agency-wide goals. Monitors new technological and social trends and identifies opportunities and risks that could impact the agency. Adapt and adopt technical solutions then deploy them to increase the agency’s overall effectiveness. Reviews the technical aspects of the agency’s strategy to ensure alignment with its operational goals.

Projects

Division Agency-wide
Project / Program Purpose and Objectives The department currently uses several different in-house systems and manual processing to create and maintain access contracts and payments (block management, upland game bird, elk hunting access). The disparate systems and processes make it difficult provide a holistic overview of access available to our customers and access provided by our landowners. The current systems don’t interface with SABHRS, our Automated License System, or ESRI. As a result, payments, license or application discounts, and access maps are maintained separately. The goal of this request is two-fold: the agency would like landowners to see all of the access initiatives that are provided by the department and our partners and allow our customers to easily find access opportunities.
State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference Citizen/Partner - streamline and elevate customer interactions.
Estimated Start 11/3/2025 Estimated Delivery 4/14/2026
Estimated Cost 25000 Comment Annual cost for COTS solution.
HB 10 Request No Funding Sources General License Fund: 25000 - Comment:
Annual Costs Upon Completion 25000 Comment
Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended.

Division Agency-wide
Project / Program Purpose and Objectives The agency has a wide range of volunteer opportunities and needs across the agency. Our volunteer opportunities allow people to support our state by becoming a camp host, a hunter education instructor, or wildlife rehabilitator. The department’s volunteer program benefits our customers, the agency, and the volunteers. A volunteer management system would allow the agency to track our volunteers and volunteer opportunities in a centralized location. In order to keep the department’s customers and wildlife are safe, volunteers are vetted to ensure they are suitable. Background checks and other required documentation would be stored and managed in a single location versus per program, division, or region.
State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference Financial Stewardship - improve business value
Estimated Start 7/1/2025 Estimated Delivery 10/31/2025
Estimated Cost 20000 Comment
HB 10 Request No Funding Sources General License Fund: 20000 - Comment:
Annual Costs Upon Completion 20000 Comment
Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended.

Division Enforcement
Project / Program Purpose and Objectives Our law enforcement officers are required to use body cameras to gather evidence and document interactions with recreators. Body camera footage is currently stored and maintained locally by the warden. The department would like to utilize the wardens’ existing Smartphones as body cameras. This solution will also allow our officers to upload their footage to a central location, share the data as needed, and maintain retention requirements.
State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference Citizen/Partner - Enable Strategic Solutions
Estimated Start 7/1/2025 Estimated Delivery 7/31/2025
Estimated Cost 142800 Comment
HB 10 Request No Funding Sources General License Fund: 142800 - Comment:
Annual Costs Upon Completion 142800 Comment
Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended.

Division TSD
Project / Program Purpose and Objectives The agency is committed to offering our customers a modern and secure digital interaction. To accomplish this goal, the department’s development teams will be implementing many new application programming interfaces which act as gatekeepers between different public and private systems. These gatekeepers help to secure the backend of they agency’s systems by facilitating data flows and keeping underlying infrastructure secure. As the department adds more and increasingly complex APIs, it is necessary to have a system to manage their development, testing, deployment, and collaboration efforts. The unique nature and security thrust of APIs makes it necessary to have mature tools that are purpose-built for their management.
State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference Internal Processes - Security by Design
Estimated Start 8/25/2025 Estimated Delivery 10/31/2025
Estimated Cost 25000 Comment
HB 10 Request No Funding Sources General License Fund: 25000 - Comment:
Annual Costs Upon Completion 25000 Comment
Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended.

Division CommEd
Project / Program Purpose and Objectives The FWP website is the primary portal for information we share with the public. The public expects a functional site with proper and clear navigation. When the website launched at the end of 2019, several key pieces of development were incomplete. Those items were identified by the website development team as important for functionality, but not necessary for website launch. Those items have remained uncompleted. Additionally, as technology advances and use of mobile devices for accessing our website increases, fixes and upgrades are necessary to meet customer needs when accessing our website. With a contractor on board, and once the outstanding needs are met, we could develop a strategy for updating the website to meet ongoing needs and anticipate ways to better meet public and staff expectations of the site.
State Strategic Plan Goal/Objective Reference Citizen/Partner - design for human experience
Estimated Start 7/1/2025 Estimated Delivery 6/30/2026
Estimated Cost 150000 Comment
HB 10 Request No Funding Sources General License Fund: 150000 - Comment:
Annual Costs Upon Completion 0 Comment
Status of the project as of March 31, even numbered years. Indicate % completed and status of funds expended.

Summary of Hardware

I have reviewed all of my agency's systems in Assurance CM and certify that it is accurate: Yes

Total Number of Appliances 1 Bomgar Virtual Appliance
Total Number of Physical Servers 0 All of our equipment is owned and/or hosted by SITSD.
Total Number of Virtualized Servers 0 All of our equipment is owned and/or hosted by SITSD.
Total Usable Storage Space 0 GB
Device Type Quantity Estimated Replacement Value Comments
Desktops 126 116180.98
Laptops 788 1150652.39
Toughbooks 122 594390 Law Enforcement computers
Thin Clients 13 6596.53 Call center devices - no plans to replace these devices since the call centers are transitioning to work from home.
POS 366 232650 License provider set-up - includes thin client, printer, monitor, mouse, and keyboard
Mobile Devices 782 251971
Printers 492 223391.18 Includes vehicle printers for Law Enforcement
Hubs 7 44134.80
Cameras 1021 293871.32
Monitors 693 130234.16
Projectors 61 38542.91

Agency Contact Information

Agency Director / Administrator
Dustin Temple
(406) 444-2535
dtemple@mt.gov
1420 East Sixth Avenue, Helena MT 59601
IT Contact (CIO / IT Manager)
Jessica Plunkett
406-781-6420
jplunkett@mt.gov
4600 Giant Springs Road, Great Falls, MT 59405
Information Security Manager
Rebecca Cooper
406-444-4756
rcooper@mt.gov
1625 11th Ave, Helena MT 59601