Legislative Update

Montana Senate Amends, Approves Stream Access Bill

By Courtney Lowery, 3-31-09

	A fence crosses the Ruby River in southwestern Montana. The Ruby is one Montana waterway where public access debates have escalated in the last five years. Photo by Jonathan Weber.

The Montana Senate on Monday approved a bill that clarifies the long contentious issue of public access to the state’s rivers and streams.

House Bill 190, sponsored by Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings, passed second reading 47-2. It has already passed the house and if awaits final approval, likely Tuesday, before moving back to the House for final approval on Senate amendments and then it’s on to the Governor’s desk.

The bill would clarify how landowners can fence off their property next to county bridges—which are by are law access points for anglers and floaters. The point of the bill was to finally find a compromise that would allow landowners to fence near bridges, but still allow reasonable access to the stream.

One amendment passed by the Senate Monday adds wood rail fences to the list of acceptable access features that provide public passage while still controlling livestock and property.

The last attempt at such a bill, in 2007, was futile. Senate Bill 78 died in a House committee after passing through the Senate.

Sen. Ryan Zinke, R-Whitefish says this year’s legislation isn’t perfect either, “but it’s the best we can come up with at the moment, I think that Montana demands that we at least move forward with stream access.”

The University of Montana’s Legislative News Service contributed to this report from Helena.

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