Stream Access: It’s up to you

In 1985, the Montana Legislature passed our stream access law (MCA-23-2-302) stating in part that “all surface waters that are capable of recreational use may be so used by the public without regard to the ownership of the land underlying the waters.”

Over the intervening 29 years there have been many unsuccessful challenges to that law. Earlier this year the Montana Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in support of the stream access law regarding a section of the Ruby River. In the majority opinion, Justice Mike Wheat wrote that “In Montana, waters within the state are State property held in trust for the people. … To assert he [James Cox Kennedy] may control use of the water overlying the section of riverbed he owns is misplaced,” “Kennedy has offered no convincing reason to disrupt what has long been settled constitutional law in Montana,”

We all remember the battle over access to Mitchell Slough in the Bitterroot Valley in 2008. In that case, the State Supreme Court ruled unanimously that landowners cannot fence off the public waters of Montana to create their own little fiefdoms. Nearly every year, and certainly during every session of the Montana Legislature we see another threat to our constitutional right to access our streams. The upcoming session will certainly be no different.
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If you treasure access to our waters and to our public lands, as do most Montana anglers, your vote on Nov. 4 may be pivotal in securing those rights for future generations. Several candidates in the upcoming election have publicly stated their support for proposals to circumvent access to public lands and even sell our public treasures to the highest bidder. So-called “property rights” candidates would lock up our public lands and reduce access by anglers and hunters and these issues will surely be debated in the 2015 Legislature.

Before you cast your vote on Nov. 4, please familiarize yourself with the positions of candidates on these access issues. If we are to maintain our unparalleled access to public lands and waters in Montana it is vitally important that we elect representatives who support legal access and who will fight to preserve our rights to hunt and fish.