Blog Archives - Page 6 of 12

Gianforte has real Montanan values related to access

July 18, 2016

By Hertha Lund Often times the first casualty in politics is the truth. Currently, the Democrats are using out-of-state dark money to bastardize the truth relating to Greg Gianforte and stream access issues. In reality, Gianforte’s approach to stream access is the ideal balance between public access and property rights, which is where most Montanans position themselves. Yes, it is correct that in 2009 Gianforte filed to Quiet Title against the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (“FWP”) due to a factual and legal discrepancy of where the public access should be on Gianforte’s property. This type of suit is a common tool for landowners to use in order to allow the courts to sort out these types of factual and legal issues. Instead of serving the suit, Gianforte’s attorney sent FWP letters and...

Enviro groups attempting to destroy Eastern MT ag

June 30, 2016

A cadre of radical environmental groups have set their sites on farmers and ranchers along the Yellowstone River in Eastern Montana in an attempt to eliminate irrigation projects in at least five locations on the river. The first attack is against the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project between Glendive and Sidney where the out-of-state environmental group Defenders of Wildlife has sued the Army Corps of Engineers to remove a 107-year-old diversion wier. That wier is the starting point for a massive irrigation project that serves nearly 60,000 acres in Montana and North Dakota, and is the backbone for a $10 million sugar industry that supports hundreds of jobs in Sidney. There are at least four other irrigation projects on the Yellowstone that environmental groups plan to target. These...

UPOM 2015 Annual Report is now online

June 27, 2016

Check out what UPOM has been up to and what we’ve got planned for the coming years by downloading our annual report, available by clicking here.

Another SCOTUS win for property rights

June 16, 2016

Since it’s implementation the Clean Water Act has developed a reputation as being ambiguous and arbitrarily implemented, and has plagued property owners and agriculture producers across the U.S. The EPA is now attempting to expand the scope of that Act through the controversial Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which would place all bodies of waters—including puddles and stock ponds—under federal regulatory jurisdiction. But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has added a degree of clarity to the Clean Water Act, and more importantly an opinion by Justice Kennedy in the case signals good news on a multi-state challenge to the WOTUS rule. One June 1st, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously to allow landowners the ability to challenge in Court the EPA’s Clean Water Act “jurisdictional...

Fergus County asks to be left out of Upper Missouri River Heritage Area designation

May 4, 2016

Opposition is growing to a proposal to designate a huge area of land as the Upper Missouri River Heritage Area. Recently, the Fergus County Commission unanimously voted to be left out of the proposal being pushed by Cascade County Commissioner Jane Weber. National Heritage Areas are designations connected to the National Parks Service. Though administered locally, and not by the NPS, Heritage Area designations can have implications on private property rights for landowners in and near the Area designation. Examples from other Heritage Areas around the country show that local governments are often pressured to change land use policies after a Heritage Area has been designated. Additionally, the Heritage Board, the new layer of government set up to administer the Heritage Area, has the...

Elections Matter, Ep. 1 – Legislative attempts to seize your property

April 1, 2016

Elections Matter is a series of articles about issues from the 2015 Montana Legislature that were decided by only a few votes. The objective of the Elections Matter series is to underscore why it’s so vitally important to elect officeholders who support our rights to own, use, and enjoy our property. Should landowners in Montana have to apply for permission from their county governments before placing a new gate on their property? Of course not, such a scenario seems nonsensical. But that’s exactly what would have resulted had legislation by a pair of Great Falls lawmakers been enacted last year. House Bill 286, sponsored by Rep. Tom Jacobson (D), would have required a landowner to file a notice of intent with the county commission for any planned “fence, barrier, or...