Interesting article this morning in the Missoulian – Landowner Says He’ll Shut Down Bitterroot Fishing Access if City, State Don’t Act. From the article –
STEVENSVILLE — An empty can of Foster’s beer in a plastic bag hangs from a barb on Roy Capp’s fence.
If you want to boil down Capp’s years of frustration over the unregulated public use of his family’s land next to the Bitterroot River, on this day there may not be a better example than that one single inanimate object.
Capp shakes his head slowly in disgust as he points to it.
“That just shows the disrespect that people have for this place,” he said. “There’s no garbage can here. No one is taking care of this place. No one cares how it looks or what’s left behind.”
“This place” is the site that hundreds — maybe even thousands — of people use as a fishing access site, beachfront and trailhead every year.
Located immediately downstream from the bridge crossing the Bitterroot River west of Stevensville, the area is often packed full with vehicles and boat trailers during the peak fishing season.
Nearly every one of those is parked on the property that the Capp family has owned since the 1970s.
Over the past year, the family has been in negotiations with the city of Stevensville and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for a land exchange. The Capps have offered 3.6 acres of land they own just below the bridge and another 1.5 acres in town for 8 acres of park land owned by the town of Stevensville…
The article goes on to to flesh out the details, though makes an obvious glaring error that is a critical one. The author states (last paragraph quoted above) that the family, the City of Stevensville and Montana FWP have been working on an exchange for a year, then later quotes the stunning reality that the family has apparently been trying to work out some version of an exchange since 1995.
Inquisitive minds would have to wonder what in hell’s kitchen has kept this issue from being resolved for 22 years?
There’s Still a Link Between River Access Rights and Being A Responsible River User
We’ve been staunch defenders of Montana’s coveted public access for a decade here on Chi Wulff and for years before that privately, and will do so until our last collective breath.
However, in a blow to the shit-for-brains, irresponsible river corridor users among us, having the right to access the rivers we love is critically tied to several incredibly simple responsibilities – one of which is picking up your f**king trash.
We’ve seen firsthand (for years) the astounding piles of shit left behind on the lower Madison and the Jefferson during summer tuber seasons, often left for hard-working rancher and farmer landowners to clean up. Some years it’s absolutely stunning how much crap can be dumped by idiots in an short summer “tube hatch” season, though it’s not all bikini clad float tubers leaving trash, damaging fences and even causing bankside damage dragging boats in and out.
There certainly may be more to the story here, but townships like Stevensville and FWP shifting maintenance responsibilities induced by public river access to private landowners, when they damned well know there’s a problem, is utter and complete bullshit.
It’s their call to make of course, but if I was buying Roy Capp and his wife breakfast today, I’d say shut the access down and get this settled out fairly.
