The long-running Mitchell Slough case – where wealthy Montana landowners tried to bar public access to a Montana waterway and challenge Montana’s enlightened Stream Access Law – looks to be over.
And it appears the good guys won.
The Montana State Supreme Court refused to rehear the case, leaving in place a decision that should put wide, wide smiles on the faces of fly fishermen:
The Montana Supreme Court will not rehear the Mitchell Slough case.
In an order issued last week, the court turned down two petitions seeking a rehearing on the court’s ruling in November that the slough was a natural waterway and therefore subject to state law for streambed permitting and public access.
“It’s a done deal now except for the formalities,†said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park’s Chief Legal Council Bob Lane.
The 16-mile-long Mitchell Slough has been mired in controversy for years. The channel runs on the east side of the Bitterroot River between Hamilton and Stevensville through private property, including lands owned by 1980s rocker Huey Lewis.
The two petitions seeking a rehearing were filed by landowners who argued the Supreme Court overlooked material evidence when it issued its ruling on the slough’s status. Landowners argued – and two state district courts earlier agreed – that the slough had been dramatically altered over the years and was no longer a natural stream.
The Supreme Court disagreed and overturned two earlier state district court rulings.
Somedays you’re the trout, somedays you’re the stuck-in-the-shuck emerger. Today we’re all trout.
See you out of court, Tom Chandler.
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