Hey stay the hell out of my River,,,,,, err Ditch.
Montana stream access law is once again being subverted by those who would love to see Montana's Stream access laws converted to an aristocratic version similar to England's.
House Bill 309 has passed in the Montana House and is on it's way to the Senate. HB 309 would move to reinterpret the definition of a ditch and a naturally occurring River. HB 309 includes natural streams that have been altered by irrigation structures or irrigation return-flows (think diversion's). What does that mean? Well I don't think anyone is completely sure, including the Bill's sponsor Rep. Jeff Wellborn R-Dillon.
If you put your boat in at a Montana FWP fishing access site, on a River that has been defined as a ditch, can you float? Probably not, and subsequently you probably wouldn't be able to fish around the public access on foot in the Stream bed, because that Stream bed or (ditchbed?) is private. Montana Stream Access Law is very clear on ditches, stay out, and trespass laws are in place. If Ranchers and Farmers are having problems with trespassers in ditches, there are already laws that apply. Of course landowners could provide permission to access private ditches, but in our highly litigious society, who could blame the landowner for withholding permission?
Fortunately there are still several hurdles left for this bill, and Hopefully Montana's Governor will veto it if it passes in the Senate. It could also be struck down in the Supreme Court, which has been proven itself to be aligned with the people in the past in regards to Stream access law. It recently ruled that Mitchell Slough a spring creek or arm of the Bitterroot, which runs through Rocker Huey Lewis' land in the Bitterroot Valley, was not an irrigation ditch as he purported, but a stream that the public could access legally. Many observers feel that this Bill is a reaction to that law.
I would contend that this law is actually quite more foreboding than overturning a Stream Access ruling on one small piece of water. I believe that this law is about making Money, and lot's of it. If a landowner could build a diversion, or ditch, which would in turn make the Stream flowing through their respective property private, it would enhance the value of the Ranch Property greatly. The number of Streams that this law would currently affect is limited, but the Montana Rancher and Landowner could make modifications to their land quite easily that would render their Stream private, and enhance it's value immensely.