![EastGallatinRiverCountyRoadAccess](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/EastGallatinRiverCountyRoadAccess.jpg)
The Montana Stream Access Law says that
angler
Angler may refer to:
* A fisherman who uses the fishing technique of angling
* ''Angler'' (video game)
* The angler, ''Lophius piscatorius'', a monkfish
* More generally, any anglerfish in the order Lophiiformes
* '' Angler: The Cheney Vice Pres ...
s,
floaters
Floaters or eye floaters are sometimes visible deposits (e.g., the shadows of tiny structures of protein or other cell debris projected onto the retina) within the eye's vitreous humour ("the vitreous"), which is normally transparent, or between ...
and other recreationists in
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
have full use of most natural waterways between the high-water marks for
fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
and floating, along with
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...
and other river or stream-related activities. In 1984, the
Montana Supreme Court
The Montana Supreme Court is the supreme court, highest court of the state court system in the U.S. state of Montana. It is established and its powers defined by Article VII of the 1972 Montana Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court wh ...
held that the streambed of any river or stream that has the capability to be used for
recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasur ...
can be accessed by the public regardless of whether the river is navigable or who owns the streambed property.
[Stream Access in Montana]
On January 16, 2014, the Montana Supreme Court, in a lawsuit filed by the Public Land/Water Access Association over access via county bridges on the
Ruby river
The Ruby River is a tributary of the Beaverhead River, approximately 76 mi (122 km) long, in southwestern Montana in the United States. It rises in the Beaverhead National Forest in southwestern Madison County between the Snowcrest ...
in
Madison County, Montana
Madison County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 8,623. Its county seat is Virginia City, Montana, Virginia City. The county was founded in 1865 ...
reaffirmed the Montana Stream Access Law and the public's right to access rivers in Montana from public easements.
Details of Stream Access
![MontanaPublicBridgeAccess](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/MontanaPublicBridgeAccess.JPG)
The core law creating the Montana Stream Access law began with Article IX, section 3 of the 1972 Montana Constitution, which addressed state ownership of Montana waters. In 1984 in ''Montana Coalition for Stream Access, Inc. v. Curran,'' the Montana Supreme Court held that "under the public trust doctrine and the 1972 Montana Constitution, any surface waters that are capable of recreational use may be so used by the public without regard to streambed ownership or navigability for nonrecreational purposes." This decision was expanded upon in the same year by ''Mont. Coalition for Stream Access, Inc. v. Hildreth''. Both cases noted that streambed access did not imply that the public had a right to cross private lands to access streams.
[''see Bitterroot Protective Ass'n v. Bitterroot Conservation Dist. (BRPA II),'' 2008 MT 377, 346 Mont. 507, 198 P.3d 219] Following ''Curran'' and ''Hildreth'', the Montana Legislature enacted the Stream Access Law in 1985.
[ An Attorney General's opinion added ]trapping
Animal trapping, or simply trapping or gin, is the use of a device to remotely catch an animal. Animals may be trapped for a variety of purposes, including food, the fur trade, hunting, pest control, and wildlife management.
History
Neolithic ...
to the list of permissible recreational uses. The question of stream access at bridge crossings was resolved by HB 190 in 2009. The law states that a landowner may erect fences abutting bridge structures to control livestock so long as the fence includes approved access features such as gates, stiles etc..
Classification of waters
The law creates two classifications of waters capable of recreational use: Class I and Class II. Class I are waters which are capable of recreational use and have been declared navigable or which are capable of specific kinds of commercial activity including commercial outfitting with multi-person watercraft. Class II waters are all other rivers and streams capable of recreational use that are not Class I waters.[
Class I Waters
*Kootenai River Drainage
**]Kootenai River
The Kootenay or Kootenai river is a major river in the Northwest Plateau, in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, the l ...
- from Libby Dam to the Idaho border
**Lake Creek - from Chase cut-off-road to its confluence with the Kootenai River
**Yaak River
The Yaak River (spelled Yahk River in Canada) is a tributary of the Kootenai River in Montana.
Course
The Yaak River originates near Yahk Mountain, in the Yahk Range, part of the Purcell Mountains, in southeast British Columbia. The river flo ...
- from Yaak Falls to its confluence with the Kootenai River
*Flathead River
The Flathead River ( fla, label= Salish, člq̓etkʷ ntx̣ʷetkʷ, , kut, kananmituk), in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Canadian Rockies to the north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Fla ...
Drainage
**South fork of the Flathead - from Youngs creek to Hungry Horse reservoir
**Middle fork of the Flathead - from Schaffer creek to its confluence with the Flathead River
**Flathead River (mainstem) - to its confluence with the Clark Fork River
*Clark Fork of the Columbia River Drainage
** Clark Fork River - from Warm Spring Creek to the Idaho border
**North Fork of the Blackfoot - from highway 200 east of Ovando to its confluence with the mainstem of the Blackfoot River
** Blackfoot River - from the Cedar Meadow fishing access site west of Helmville to its confluence with the Clark Fork River
** Bitterroot River - from the confluence of the East and West forks to its confluence with the Clark Fork River
**Rock Creek - from the confluence of the West fork to its confluence with the Clark Fork River
*Missouri River Drainage
** Missouri River - from Three Forks to the North Dakota border
**Beaverhead River
The Beaverhead River is an approximately tributary of the Jefferson River in southwest Montana (east of the Continental Divide). It drains an area of roughly . The river's original headwaters, formed by the confluence of the Red Rock River and H ...
- from Clark Canyon Dam to its confluence with the Jefferson River
**Big Hole River
The Big Hole River is a tributary of the Jefferson River, approximately long, in Beaverhead County, in southwestern Montana, United States. It is the last habitat in the contiguous United States for native fluvial Arctic grayling and is a h ...
- from Fishtrap fishing access downstream from Wisdom to its confluence with the Jefferson River
**Gallatin River
The Gallatin River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi (193 km long), in the U.S. states of Wyoming and Montana. It is one of three rivers, along with the Jefferson River, Jefferson and Madison River, Madison, ...
- from Taylors Fork to its confluence with the Missouri River
**Jefferson River
The Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana. The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three F ...
- to its confluence with the Missouri River
**Madison River
The Madison River is a headwater tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 183 miles (295 km) long, in Wyoming and Montana. Its confluence with the Jefferson and Gallatin rivers near Three Forks, Montana forms the Missouri River.
Th ...
- from Quake Lake to its confluence with the Missouri River
**Dearborn River
The Dearborn River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 70 mi (113 km) long, in central Montana in the United States. It rises in the Lewis and Clark National Forest, near Scapegoat Mountain in the Lewis and Clark Ran ...
- from Highway 431 bridge to its confluence with the Missouri River
** Sun River - from Gibson Dam to its confluence with the Missouri River
** Smith River - from the Camp Baker Fishing Access site near Ft. Logan to its confluence with the Missouri River
**Marias River
The Marias River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 210 mi (338 km) long, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is formed in Glacier County, in northwestern Montana, by the confluence of the Cut Bank Creek and the Two Med ...
- from Tiber Dam to its confluence with the Missouri River
**Judith River
The Judith River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 124 mi (200 km) long, running through central Montana in the United States. It rises in the Little Belt Mountains and flows northeast past Utica and Hobson. It is ...
- from the confluence with Big Spring Creek to its confluence with the Missouri River
*Yellowstone River Drainage
**Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...
- from Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
to the North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...
border
**Bighorn River
The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its ban ...
- from Yellowtail Dam to its confluence with the Yellowstone River
** Tongue River - from Tongue River Dam
The Tongue River Dam () is a dam in Big Horn County, Montana
Big Horn County is a county located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,124. The county seat is Hardin. The county, like the river and the m ...
to its confluence with the Yellowstone River
See also
*Public trust doctrine
The public trust doctrine is the principle that the sovereign holds in trust for public use some resources such as shoreline between the high and low tide lines, regardless of private property ownership.
Origins
The ancient laws of the Byzanti ...
*Water law
Water resources law (in some jurisdictions, shortened to "water law") is the field of law dealing with the ownership, control, and use of water as a resource. It is most closely related to property law, and is distinct from Water quality law, l ...
*List of rivers of Montana
The following is a partial list of rivers of Montana (U.S. state).
East of Continental Divide
Water in these rivers flows east and south from the Continental Divide of the Americas, also known as the Great Divide, into the Gulf of Mexico via t ...
Advocates for Montana public stream access
*Public Land/Water Access Association - The mission of the association is to maintain, restore, and perpetuate public access to the boundaries of all Montana public land and waters.
*Montana River Action - The clean flowing waters of Montana belong to the people and are held in trust by the State for a pollution-free healthful environment guaranteed by our Montana Constitution. Montana River Action's mission is to protect and restore rivers, streams and other water bodies.
*Montana Wildlife Federation - Dedicated to conservation and preservation of Montana's wildlife, lands, waters and Montana fair-chase hunting and fishing heritage; Prioritizing public access to public wildlife and public lands.
Advocates for reduced Montana public stream access
*Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) - Improving environmental quality through property rights and markets.
*Montana Farm Bureau Federation Agricultural organization supporting interests of irrigators and landowners."MFBF extremely disappointed in Mitchell Ditch ruling"
/ref>
References
Further reading
*
{{Montana
Montana law
Water law in the United States
Water in Montana