Viewpoint: Future of public lands ride on state elections

Public Lands Politicking By now, we are all sick of our mailboxes bursting at the seams with flashy election mailers and flyers peddling one side while demonizing the other. This year, it appears that just about every candidate and ballot initiative is tied to Public Lands; with one side promising to protect access while the other is certain to lock us out.

Here is something that cuts through this year’s politics. Our organization has been working to maintain and defend access to public lands, public waters and public resources in Montana for nearly 40 years. Public Land and Water Access Association (PLWA) is a grassroots, membership driven non-profit that was founded by some of Montana’s conservation giants. We work to ensure the public has access to public resources in Montana regardless of party or political affiliation.

Have you ever recreated on a river or creek and explored the gravels and sands below the ordinary high-water mark? How about hunted for Sharpies or Huns on State Trust Lands with your favorite bird dog? These privileges we enjoy in Montana are misdemeanors in other states and our beautiful ability to recreate broadly on waterways and public lands in Montana is constantly at risk from those wanting to privatize our public resources. Don’t believe us?

In just this past year alone, PLWA has investigated over 40 issues across the state, from illegally gated public roads to flat out attempts to block stream access and harass folks hunting and fishing legally. Collectively these issues portend a much different future for Montana. One in which “private property rights” and calls for “local control” are used as propaganda to consolidate power and transfer public land and wildlife to the landed gentry.

There are two groups here in Montana, that are attempting to do just that. They have both been in the spotlight recently, and I think it would be helpful to “state the facts” as our longtime board president Bernie Lea constantly reminds us. The Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC) is a conservative environmental think tank based in Bozeman.

Just 8 years ago, PERC lined up on the opposite end of the courtroom to PLWA in defense of millionaire media mogul James Cox Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy attempted to invalidate Montana’s Stream Access Law, claiming that he owned not only the water in the Ruby River, but the air and birds above the water. PLWA spent thousands of dollars and nearly a decade battling Kennedy’s lawyers and PERC’s legal team, but the recreating public prevailed with the MT Supreme court famously ruling that Kennedy’s arguments “didn’t hold water”.

Another group that has been in the headlines recently is the United Propery Owners of Montana (UPOM). UPOM has been protecting the interests of Montana’s wealthiest landowners for decades and in addition to cozying up with Mr. Kennedy on the Ruby River, just recently attempted to upend elk management in the entire state of Montana for the benefit of their exclusive membership.

Supreme Court Candidate Cory Swanson lists his campaign manager as Chuck Denowh. Chuck also just happens to serve as the long-time executive director of UPOM. PERC and UPOM represent a much different future for Montana than the one most of us cherish and boast about to friends in neighboring states.

If UPOM and PERC ran Montana, every duck and goose that flies through the sky would have a dollar value attached to its head and every trip to your local creek would include a landowner payment. Make no mistake, our broad ability to access public resources in Montana is also the ire of those that believe they should own it all, from the water to the air and birds above.

The Montana that we grew up in, or moved here for, is changing. For better or for worse, the choice is up to us. Do we want Montana to be a place where everyone has access to public lands, water and wildlife, or just those with the deepest pocketbooks?

Alex Leone (Executive Director) and the PLWA Board of Directors