Blog – Page 6 – United Property Owners of Montana

Waters of the US rule is about control, not conservation

Written by upom-admin on September 5, 2014. Posted in Blog, Stream Access, WOTUS.

It’s safe to say all Montanans enjoy our lakes, rivers and streams and wish to ensure that they remain healthy for years to come. No group values our water more than Montana’s agriculture producers. They’re the primary stewards of our water and their conservation efforts benefit all Montanans.

That could all change, however, if the EPA gets their way. Their newly proposed “Waters of the United States” rule would flip our water conservation model, ultimately turning what landowners now consider an asset into a huge liability. History has shown when that happens, our environment pays the price.

Let’s be clear on what this rule is about. It’s an attempt to expand the power of the federal bureaucracy to control what happens on private land. This rule is not about protecting water resources—in fact it would have the opposite effect. But the outcome for the environment doesn’t matter for supporters of this rule, they just want more control.

MOU Between FWP and Turner Enterprises, Inc.

Written by upom-admin on April 9, 2014. Posted in Bison, Blog.

Over the past several weeks we have had several members inquire as to the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding between Turner Enterprises, Inc., Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and the Montana Department of Livestock regarding the quarantine and relocation of Yellowstone National Park Bison. Click here to view the MOU.

LA Times: Supreme Court deals setback to rails-to-trails movement

Written by upom-admin on March 23, 2014. Posted in Blog, Road Access.

“The Supreme Court dealt a setback Monday to the popular redevelopment trend of transforming abandoned railroad lines into public bike paths, ruling that buyers of such lands are not required to continue granting a federal right of way…

“In an 8-1 decision, the justices ruled in favor of Marvin Brandt, a Wyoming man who controls 83 acres of land that was formerly used by the Wyoming and Colorado Railroad, located near the Medicine Bow National Forest. When the U.S. Forest Service told Brandt that the government retained the railroad’s right of way across his land and planned to use it for a bike trail, he filed suit.

“Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the Railroad Right of Way Act of 1875 gave the rail lines a temporary easement across the land, but once the rail line was abandoned and the property was sold, the government no longer had a right of way.

“So when the Wyoming and Colorado Railroad abandoned the line in 2004, ‘Brandt’s land became unburdened of the easement, conferring on him the same full rights’ to keep others off his private property, Roberts said.”

Click here for the full story in the LA Times.

Oped: Access for all but stewardship for not

Written by upom-admin on January 26, 2014. Posted in Blog, Stream Access.

By Terry L. Anderson and Reed Watson of PERC

When the Montana Constitution was rewritten in 1972, no one would have thought that the clause stating all waters “are the property of the State for the use of its people” would lead to an erosion of private property rights to land. But it has as Montana’s activist Supreme Court has used the clause to favor stream access over private property rights.

…

With landowners outraged by the ruling, the legislature tried to slow the erosion of property rights in 1985 by passing the “Stream Access Law.” The law limits recreation to activities such as fishing, hunting, swimming and floating and limits access to areas between the high water marks, specifically excluding irrigation ditches. It also limits access across posted private property to gain access. The legislature provided further sideboards regarding access at bridges, saying, “absent definition in an easement or deed to the contrary, the width of a bridge right-of-way is the same width as the right-of-way of the road to which the bridge is attached.” In other words, stay on the bridge unless the government owns the land around it.

Oped: Stream access decision bad news for landowners

Written by upom-admin on January 22, 2014. Posted in Blog, Stream Access.

By Senator Debby Barrett

The Montana Supreme Court’s recent ruling on an important stream access case represents an alarming expansion of access law at the detriment of property rights.

But despite headlines announcing a win for stream access, the court all but ignored the 1,000-pound gorilla in the case: whether Montana’s stream access law is constitutional. Ultimately, if the appellants are successful in appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, the case may yet prove to restore the property rights that were taken from Montana landowners 30 years ago.

Montana landowners react to Supreme Court decision on road easements

Written by upom-admin on January 16, 2014. Posted in Blog, Stream Access.

Opportunity to appeal to U.S. Supreme Court could overturn Montana stream access law

Montanans awoke today to find their Constitutional property rights further eroded by the Montana Supreme Court, which has upended over 100 years of established road law in a new decision released today. The implications of the ruling are far reaching for landowners throughout the state and a serious blow to the right of Montanans to own, use, and enjoy their property. The decision could ultimately lead to a bigger win for landowners, however, because it may give an opportunity to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on the larger issue of the Constitutionality of Montana’s stream access law.

In a dissent to the decision, Justice Laurie McKinnon noted that the Montana Court had to import prescriptive road law from other states to justify their decision. In fact, the decision overturns a recent law passed in Montana that specifies that specifically did not give the public the right to trespass from prescriptive easements.

UPOM Comment on BLM RMP

Written by upom-admin on November 11, 2013. Posted in Blog, Sage Grouse.

Below is a copy of the comment that UPOM submitted for the BLM RMP on Sage Grouse protection and management:

The United Property Owners of Montana, which represents over three million acres of privately-owned land in Montana, encourage you to accept the following comments and consider extending the period for public comment in regards to the proposed BLM RMP and the corresponding DEIS.

Despite the attempts of many of our members to discern the exact impact that the BLM RMP would have regarding their individual land holdings, they have found that the amount of information provided by the BLM in regards to the specific areas affected and the extent to which those areas are affected is severely lacking. The current plan omits essential details that would enable the public to substantively analyze and comment on the proposal being made.

Oped: FWP should stop free-roaming bison plan

Written by upom-admin on October 25, 2013. Posted in Bison, Blog.

The Montana Department Fish, Wildlife, and Parks is on a strange mission to impose a free-roaming bison herd in Eastern Montana. It’s puzzling because it’s a plan that few Montanans want, and a large, diverse majority oppose. Yet, inexplicably, Governor Bullocks’ administration and FWP Director Jeff Hagener seem determined to give us a dose of a bitter medicine we don’t want or need.

The opposition to free-roaming couldn’t have been more evident at a recent FWP meeting on the issue in Lewistown. One after another, ranchers, sportsmen, farmers, local business owners, and others voiced their objections to FWP’s proposal to move bison from Yellowstone National Park to an undisclosed location in Eastern Montana.

They spoke loud and clear that free roaming bison would be an economic hardship; lead to the destruction of property, forage, and crops; and put pressure on other native species.

Oped: Court erodes foundation of state’s stream access

Written by upom-admin on October 16, 2013. Posted in Blog, Stream Access.

Professor James Huffman expalins how the United States Supreme Court’s PPL decision undermines the legal theory underlying Montana’s stream access law; click here for the full opinion in the Missoulian. Here’s an excerpt:

“The unanimous United States Supreme Court decision in PPL v. Montana was a judicial smackdown of Montana’s attempt at a massive land grab. The decision dismantled a legal theory that would have led to the state’s expropriation of thousands of miles of privately owned streambeds. At the same time, it called into question the legal underpinnings of Montana’s 30-year-old stream access law.

Supreme Court’s bison transfer decision a big win for landowners

Written by upom-admin on June 25, 2013. Posted in Bison, Blog.

The Montana Supreme Court recently decided a lawsuit brought by landowner and multiple-use groups, including UPOM, against FWP for their transfer of Yellowstone Park bison to the Fort Peck Indian Tribe. Our objection wasn’t that the bison were transferred, per se, but that FWP did not follow the law requiring landowner notification and collaborative planning before bison could be transferred. We ultimately lost the case on the grounds that the legislature did not specify that that law applied to transfers to tribal property, in addition to public and private property.

However, we won on a much bigger issue. In the decision, the Court pointed out that the bison in question were placed in captivity, and therefore no longer fit the definition of “wild bison.” Environmental groups have been proposing for years that Yellowstone Park bison that had been quarantined and proven brucellosis free could be used to establish a wild bison herd on public land in Eastern Montana. But now that it is clear that quarantined bison cannot be called wild, then there are no bison available to establish a wild herd outside the Park. We couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome in this case.