Groups file suit to determine corner crossing legality in Montana
Micah Drew
(Daily Montanan) On Thursday, two conservation organizations filed a lawsuit in Lewis and Clark District Court seeking to “cement the legality” of corner crossing in Montana while respecting private property rights.
“It doesn’t matter what side of the barbed wire, or political aisle you stand on, we are all public land owners with a vested interest in our public lands,” said Ryan Callaghan, president and CEO of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. “Corner crossing while respecting private property is a practical ‘middle ground’ that the vast majority of Montanans support. Shutting the public out of 871,000 acres of public lands is not.”
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks considers corner crossing, the act of crossing from a public parcel of land to a corner-adjacent parcel, to be illegal in Montana, despite a recent federal court’s ruling that it is allowed in certain other states.
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, and the Public Land & Water Access Association, jointly filed the legal complaint, saying in a press release they had met with Montana FWP representatives several times about the issue of corner crossing, but had not found a “constructive path forward from the state.”
“Montanans deserve clear, consistent guidance on how they can access their public lands,” said Alex Leone, executive director for Public Land & Water Access Association. “There is a commonsense path that respects private property while ensuring public lands aren’t effectively blocked. We’ve worked in good faith to find that solution and remain ready to do so.”
The legal maneuver comes one day after Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras, a former property law professor, gave a presentation to the Montana Environmental Quality Council reviewing relevant case law.
“I do think the law is clear that it’s a trespass, but I do acknowledge that if you’re not an attorney, you have to dig into the statutes, and it may not be clear or obvious,” Juras told the Legislative Environmental Quality Council on Wednesday. “One thing (you as a hunter) have done that is absolutely lawful, is to seek the consent and the permission of the landowner.”
But some lawmakers and conservation groups say the issue remains a legal gray area as questions remain whether a court with jurisdiction over Montana would agree with the state’s current interpretation of corner crossing as illegal trespass, or would align with last year’s U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that doing so is allowed.
“In my experience, if we talked to 10 other attorneys, we’d probably get a different interpretation,” Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers said Wednesday. “We didn’t hear from a judge today. We didn’t hear from the Ninth Circuit. We heard an opinion, a well informed opinion that I respect. And I would like to hear what kind of counterpoint arguments would be on this same topic.”
Callaghan had given his own public comment at Wednesday’s meeting, saying clarification on whether the Gianforte administration’s stance was rooted in opinion or law was needed.
Corner crossing has long been a point of contention in the West, where federal land, mapped and platted in 640-acre squares, was doled out in a checkerboard pattern to private companies such as railroads, private individuals as incentives to move west and homestead, and states.
Subdividing land into near squares means that if every-other parcel of a block of land is public, they only connect at the infinitesimal point between 90-degree corners.
According to a report by mapping software company OnX, there are 8.3 million acres of public land across the West that is corner locked, including 871,000 acres in Montana — more than half of the 1.52 million total acres of landlocked public land in the state.
Juras said that the corner-locked acreage represents less than 3% of the state’s federal lands, adding the report might not take into consideration “unlocked” lands due to the state’s many public access incentive programs.
For years, Montana has taken steps to reduce land- and corner-locked public parcels by creating incentives for landowners to grant access to hunters, hikers, and other recreational pursuits.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has approximately 70 agreements in place to open up 530,000 acres of “inaccessible or under-accessible” public land, according to Juras’ presentation. Participating landowners can receive payments of up to $15,000 a year, plus funds used to make improvements that facilitate access.
There is also the state’s Block Management framework, which pays landowners for walk-in corridors for hunters to cross public land to access adjacent public land, and conservation easements, which can permanently unlock public hunting access.
“The Gianforte administration supports public access,” Juras said. “I know this legislature — we all love to hunt. We love our public lands. We want to create public access. And you, the legislature, have funded programs that currently exist that do provide programs to enhance public access.”