News Flash: Montana Stream Access Bill Rises From the Dead
By Tom Chandler on Apr 12, 2007 in News
We thought the Montana Legislature had tabled this one, but Governer Brian Schweitzer has successfully resurrected Senate Bill 78.
Bill 78 clarifies the public’s right of access to the high water mark of Montana’s streams and rivers at public right of way intersections.
From New West:
Nothing is dead in the Montana Legislature, least of all the stream access issue.
One week after an unsuccessful move to “blast” onto the House floor a bill clarifying public access to Montana’s rivers and streams, Gov. Brian Schweitzer Wednesday resurrected the issue by tacking it onto a seemingly unrelated bill with an amendatory veto.
Democrats also announced plans to hold a rally Thursday demanding another vote on Senate Bill 78.
For more, click: Hope Springs Eternal for Stream Access Bill - New West Network
Technorati Tags: montana, stream access, senate bill 78
overmywaders | Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
Tom,
Thank you for posting this. No matter where we may live in the US, the right of the public to fish its streams is something we should always safeguard. The Public Trust Doctrine is intergral to our understanding of ourselves as a people and must constantly be protected from the “gentry” that necessitated its creation — whether old world “nobility” or modern American Barrons barons. JMO
Best regards,
overmywaders
Tom Chandler | Apr 12, 2007 | Reply
Most annoying about the footdragging around this bill is that it’s not so much making new law as it is clarifying an existing right of the people to access rivers below the high water mark.
Pass it already, so we can all get back to our lives.