Top FWP official nets 4 plus months of paid leave following hunting violation

A top Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks official has been “out of the office” for more than four months following a hunting violation, and he is still being paid his full salary. 

Mike Volesky, the chief operations officer for FWP, was placed on administrative leave in mid-October following the citation and makes $56.04 an hour, according to state data. That amounts to about $112,000 annually. 

Assuming 40-hour work weeks, Volesky has netted nearly $40,000 since he was placed on administrative leave. The Region 3 supervisor in Bozeman has been acting in Volesky’s role while he’s on leave and she makes $53.91. 

Volesky was cited Oct. 10 by Enforcement Division Chief Ron Howell. The citation claims he “knowingly or purposely or negligently” crossed private property to access public land to hunt on Sept. 29, and the game violation appears to be intertwined with longstanding familial squabbles. Volesky pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge of hunting without permission in initial appearance in October. 

While Volesky stopped working following the citation, FWP has not officially confirmed that is the reason for his leave, calling it a personnel matter at the time of the offense. Now, Greg Lemon, spokesperson for FWP, refuses to confirm whether or not Volesky is on administrative leave and will only confirm he’s “out of the office,” also citing a personnel matter. Multiple outlets confirmed it was administrative leave status at the time. 

“I’ve never seen anybody put out on administrative leave this long for something that they allegedly may have done on their private time,” said former chief of enforcement Dave Loewen, who spent over 20 years at FWP. “There’s been a lot of wastage of people put on administrative leave. I was on administrative leave for months and I got paid.”

The former chief was put on leave and later retired after “allegedly creating a hostile work environment”.

Volesky’s court case has been continued several times at the request of the defendant. It is set to be pushed back again this week, according to the defendant’s attorney, Jennifer Kaleczyc. Kaleczyc denied a request for an interview with her client.  

It is still unclear how much longer Volesky will be on leave or when the case will be adjudicated. 

The land near Stemple Pass Road in Lewis and Clark County that Volesky was allegedly trespassing on is owned by Tom Burgess, the brother of Volesky’s ex-wife. Because of where Burgess’s parcel is located, it is easier to access public land by going through Burgess’s private property as opposed to around it. 

Burgess told the Montana State News Bureau that he told Volesky and “everyone” in his family that Volesky is not allowed to use his private property as a means to get to the public land to hunt on “because of bad blood” between the two of them. 

“It’s not a secret that there’s no love lost between him and I,” Burgess said.

When Lemon was asked if four-plus months was a typical amount of time for an employee to be placed on paid leave following a game violation he said he was not able to make a conjecture because “it’s not common for employees to commit misdemeanors.”

“It’s extremely unusual to be off for 5 months for something like this,” Loewen said. “We’ll see what comes out at the end of the day I guess.”

Volesky has a long tenure with state agencies and FWP. Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer appointed Volesky as his natural resources policy advisor in 2004. Volesky later moved to FWP in 2012 as deputy director under then director Joe Maurier, Schweitzer’s former college roommate.