On March 14, 1895, the Montana legislature created the first state agency dealing with fish and game, the Board of Game and Fish Commissioners. It consisted of three members and was empowered to appoint a state game warden who would also serve as the Board's secretary and business agent. In 1901 the Board was abolished and replaced by a single state game and fish warden with five to eight deputies. In 1907 the Fish Commission was established to operate a state fish hatchery and to supervise the disposition of the fish raised there. The State Game and Fish Warden served as a member of this Commission. The same legislature also created the Fish and Game Commission to regulate hunting and fishing. In 1921 the two commissions were merged and were empowered to establish fish and game districts, and to close or open seasons on all game animals, birds, and fish. The administrative arm of the Commission gradually came to be referred to as the Fish and Game Department, although the department was not legislatively formalized until 1972. The drought and depression conditions of the 1930s forced new approaches to the management of natural resources. The U.S. Congress in 1937 passed the Pittman-Robertson Act which provided money for states to acquire the biological information needed to establish and maintain wildlife management programs. In 1941 Montana's legislature passed enabling legislation to bring the state under the Pittman-Robertson Act. What became the Game Management Division was established to administer this program. Funded by a combination of federal funds and hunter and fisherman user fees, the Commission was required to spend the money solely on game management and wildlife habitat enhancement, not on general operations, education, or parks. The work of the Division was divided into the general areas of surveys and inventories, land acquisition, and research. In 1977 the Game Management Division was renamed the Wildlife Division and in 1979 the agency was renamed the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.