Several friends of Chi Wulff have graciously reminded us of late that there is a group of genuine ‘unsung heroes’ working for fair access to public waters (and land) in Montana – the Public Land/Water Access Association.
These days it seems there aren’t a lot of true heroes left, at least not in real life (a nod to those of you who argue that the superhero team portrayed in the Avengers represent reality).
Those who chase fish under the bright Big Sky of Montana have learned to appreciate Montana’s Stream Access Law (seemingly the standard to which shrinking access opportunities are enviously compared). Challenges to these regulations have been kicked around in the past decade via some very public and a few not so public contests, some of which we’ve talked about on this blog.
We’d argue that the PLWA team continues to do a hero’s work, almost always quietly behind the scenes, often tedious, head-in-the-law-books legal work.
They’ve been around for a while (from their very own History page)-
Prior to the early 80’s the land under the streams was considered by many to belong to the landowners, and was fished only with their allowance or indifference. Back in those days fishing on some of Montana’s rivers and streams could be a dangerous or unpleasant experience.
Back then, landowners were just starting to understand the recreational value of property bordering blue ribbon trout streams, especially if there was any chance that the public could be excluded. A few took measures to the extreme to keep anglers out.
After reports of harassment of anglers on the Deerborn and Smith rivers filtered back to Butte in the late 1970s, some folks got together and started talking about what could be done. Tom Bugni and Jerry Manley stepped forward to start a fledging organization called the Montana Coalition for Stream Access . . . and the fight was on.
In 1977, the coalition filed its first lawsuit against Michael Curran, a landowner on the Deerborn River. Curran controlled some six or seven miles of lands bordering the Deerborn River and claimed title to its bands and streambed.
Later some outfitters and fishermen requested that the Stream Access Coalition take on another lawsuit against a Beaverhead River landowner just downstream from Clark Canyon Reservoir. Since the issue was the same, these were the cases that ran through the courts. Fishermen from all over the area raised money to pursue this case all the way to the Montana Supreme Court.
In 1984 the court ruled in a six-to-one decision that “The public has the right to use Montana’s river and streams that are capable of recreation use, up to the high water mark.” The next year with input from some of the present members of PLAAI, the legislature passed the landmark stream access law. The law, passed by the Montana Legislature in 1985, allows recreation access between the ordinary high water mark of rivers and streams. It states “that the public, without regard of the ownership of the land underlying the waters, may use rivers and streams for recreational use up to the ordinary high water mark.”
And…
This work by two of our present members, and the work of the members involved in the Stream Access Litigation has had tremendous impact for our recreationists citizens. Can you imagine what Montana would be like if the property owners owned the stream bottom? In some states, you can’t set your anchor in a stream or river if the landowner owes the bank. We owe a great deal of debt to a handful of truly dedicated citizens who fought a lonely battle and won. These same people are still involved in Public Lands/Water Access Assoc., Inc.
We are blessed with the most liberal access for our streams and land then any state in the union. We will warn you, if you take this for granted, you might be sorely disappointed. There are changes in land ownership which is resulting illegal closures of road and access to our water. PLAAI had been the bulwark against this activity and will continue the battle to the limit of our resources.
Team Chi Wulff salutes the hard working men and women of he PLWA and suggests you take a spin around their website and sending ‘a Jackson’ their way – a simple donation of 20 bucks helps forward their mission and and ongoing work, which is well updated on their website here, and will keep you in the loop via their excellent newsletter sent to members.
Speaking of their newsletter, the current version (Winter) posted here has a nice update on the Seyler Lane issue.
We’re a bit behind on our interview work (with several nice ones in the hopper) and have emailed the PLWA gang for an interview to hopefully be done in the next few weeks.
To the team working at PLWA – a hearty thanks from Team Chi Wulff. Much appreciated.
