Public Access to Montana Rivers Under Siege
By Tom Chandler on Feb 21, 2007 in News, Opinion
It’s late, I’m tired, but I’ll shovel this one last post your way - an opinion piece from New West about the fight over stream access in Montana.
Montana’s stream access law - enacted in 1985 - was supposed to serve as a model for all other access laws, but it’s been under siege almost from the moment it was voted in.
Now, landowners are fencing off legal public access to rivers, and the state government has been slow to deal with the problem.
From New West:
If Montanans allow a few out-of-touch legislators to begin fencing them out of their own streams and rivers, or to slyly redefine stream access rights from “high water mark” to “surface waters” (read the proposed bills – they are already pulling that quick switch!), it won’t be long before Montana streams and rivers will be, like in so many parts of Colorado and California, “look but don’t touch – unless you’re rich.” The whole state will suffer for the benefit of a handful of rich and elite.
I’m not so much a class warrior (”rich and elite”), but legal access is legal access, and if Montana allows its access law to fall under the combined weight of rich landowners and paid-for legislators, the state’s tourist industry will certainly suffer for it.
You can read the whole piece at: Public Ownership of Montana Streams Under Attack | New West Network
Technorati Tags: stream access, montana, stream access law, new west
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