Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks confirmed this week that boat validation stickers are no longer required on watercraft in the state, removing one of the few remaining reasons boaters had to interact with a government office before putting something heavy and fast onto a body of water shared with swimmers.

“The registration requirement still exists,” clarified FWP spokesperson Jen Halvorsen. “You still register your boat. You just don’t need the physical sticker on the hull anymore.” She said the change was made to “reduce unnecessary administrative burden,” which is government for “the stickers kept peeling off and nobody checked them anyway.”

The announcement has been met with a range of reactions from Montana’s boating community, which is large, opinionated, and begins planning for summer approximately two weeks after ice-off.

“I spent twenty minutes last spring trying to get that sticker on straight,” said Livingston boat owner Derek Pflug, 44. “My wife was holding one corner, I was holding the other, and the wind was doing whatever it wanted. Which in Livingston is a lot.” He said he is “relieved” by the change but also “a little disappointed that my sticker placement last year was objectively perfect and now no one will ever see it.”

Other regulations remain in effect, including mandatory aquatic invasive species inspections, required safety equipment, and the unwritten but universally enforced rule that whoever backs the trailer down the ramp slowest will be judged silently by everyone in the parking lot.

“The inspection stations are still mandatory,” Halvorsen said. “Please do not try to skip those. People try to skip those.”

Belgrade boater and self-described “lake enthusiast” Troy Hammett said the sticker elimination is part of a broader trend. “Pretty soon they’ll just let anyone on the water,” he said, apparently unaware that this has always been the case.

FWP noted that all other boating rules remain unchanged, including speed limits, wake zones, and the legal requirement to wave at other boats. That last one is not technically a law, but violations are noted.