Stream Access

Ruby River Access Dispute Set for Mediation

By Jonathan Weber, 9-12-05

The battle over access to the Ruby River in southwestern Montana will be the subject of a mediation session Tuesday in Bozeman, with former state supreme court justice Jim Regnier presiding. With a little luck and goodwill, the main protagonists in the case - the Madison County Commission, Public Lands Access Inc., and media mogul James C. Kennedy - will come to an agreement allowing access to the Ruby along two bridges near Sheridan.

The fight over the Ruby has been going on for almost a decade, and hit the public spotlight again earlier this year. Kennedy, who reinforced old fencing along the two bridges in question and later got a permit from Madison County allowing him to keep them there, contends there is no public easement along those bridges and no right of access. In an interview with New West, he also cited the need for habitat preservation. Stream access advocates have sued the county commission for allowing the fences, saying they violate state law.

I wrote about the larger implications of this dispute for New West, and last week I also had an op-ed in the New York Times which discusses the Ruby dispute in the context of larger questions about the stream access law and conservation easements.

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