FWP ‘Fish Chief’ Resigns From Position
After a nearly 21-year career with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the agency’s lead fisheries expert has resigned. Eileen Ryce, a fisheries biologist with a PhD, said inadequate support from her superiors while she ran a division that touches on two areas of critical interest in Montana — water and wildlife management — led her to resign.
In a letter dated Aug. 1, Ryce briefly referenced what she called “baseless allegations” that purportedly motivated department leaders to put Ryce on administrative leave three months ago.
“Being verbally threatened with immediate termination and escorted from the office within view of the public and staff was an egregious action,” she wrote. “Had the Directors Office taken due diligence and investigated the erroneous allegations prior to taking action against me, the damaging results of these actions would have been avoided.”
In an Aug. 2 conversation with Montana Free Press, Ryce said the May 17 events came as a “shock” to her and that she was kept in the dark about the circumstances surrounding them until a few days ago, when an investigator told her that allegations of discrimination and retaliatory behavior had been made and dismissed.
“As I understand it, that was the main thing that led to the administrative leave,” she said.
The resignation letter also references “certain conditions” that were placed on Ryce’s return to her position — conditions she said she could not agree to.
“There was a statement made that described myself in a way that I could not agree to, with the agreement being that I work on an improvement plan to correct those character issues,” Ryce said.
FWP spokesperson Greg Lemon declined to comment on Ryce’s description of the allegations against her and the attendant investigation since it applies to a personnel matter.
Ryce added that she feels that she can’t be effective in her position without support from her supervisors, which is why she’s parting ways with FWP.
“Being fish chief to me was much more than just a job. It was more of a calling, and I need to know that I can be effective in a position,” she said. “It comes down to being able to trust that I have support from above and not being able to rely on people openly listening to my side. As fish chief, on a day-today basis, I was continuously making difficult decisions. At the level I was at, everything was critical.”
More specifically, Ryce said she was balancing a variety of natural resource concerns and priorities, ranging from the management of threatened and endangered species to protecting the state from an incursion of aquatic invasive species and ensuring that the state’s fish hatcheries are not spreading pathogens.
“Being fish chief to me was much more than just a job. It was more of a calling, and I need to know that I can be effective in a position … It comes down to being able to trust that I have support from above and not being able to rely on people openly listening to my side.”
“All of those are very difficult decisions — and important ones for the mission of the division — to preserve, protect and enhance aquatic resources,” she said.
Ryce also said that while she’s still confused about department leadership’s actions, some onlookers’ frustration with what they describe as increasing politicization of the agency is a “fair conclusion to make.”
The agency’s first director under Greg Gianforte’s administration was Henry “Hank” Worsech. Worsech prioritized customer service and expressed a desire to run the agency with an eye toward the “social dimension” of wildlife management. Ryce said Worsech’s preference for agency leads with more administrative than scientific experience was troubling to her. (After about two years at FWP, Worsech retired from the agency in 2023 following an extended period of medical leave.)
Ryce also questions a recent decision to remove researchers from the oversight of the Fish and Wildlife Division, where they can have a “close connection” with field staff, and place them under the supervision of the director’s office.
