Access and opportunity. They’re two things the Montana Wildlife Federation works hard to preserve for Montana hunters and anglers. And they’re two things that will be gained this year when a new access is opened up into an area along the Rocky Mountain Front west of Choteau.
Thanks to the dedication of the Russell Country Sportsmen’s Association, and in particular Randy Knowles, an agreement was reached this summer between RCSA, Teton County, the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and owners of the Salmond Ranch to open up the new access point. The access provides walk-in and horseback access to roughly 50,000 acres of public land in the Deep Creek area along the Front. The access is opening just in time for big game season later this month.
It’s new access. And it opens up a lot of hunting opportunity. The deal was reached after years of negotiations and some legal wrangling over whether Teton County Road 380 was in fact a public right of way. Sportsmen led by RCSA said it was. Members of the Salmond family in 2012 brought a quiet title action on the road, which had been posted no trespassing. Teton County, the DNRC and Knowles intervened, contending it was a public route.
Under the settlement agreement reached in July, the Salmond family agreed to create a new public road along the border with its property that leads to state trust lands. DNRC agreed to pay for a public parking area as well as maintain weeds along the road.
The road will be open from July 1 through Dec. 31. That allows public access for hunting, hiking and other recreational pursuits in summer and fall, while protecting the area during calving and fawning season as well as in the winter when the area is used as winter range.
The parking lot opens access to 1,900 acres of state land, roughly 38,000 acres of the Lewis and Clark National Forest in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and about 10,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in the area.
The settlement opens up an area for foot and horseback hunting that was previously only reachable by coming in 25 miles from the north or south. It represents a major win for the sporting public, while still protecting the important wildlife and habitat values along the Front.
It’s important to build on this success and address the issue of gated public roads leading to public land. MWF in the last Legislature brought several bills to improve public access to public land. They failed to pass. But we are going to keep up the effort to solve this problem and bring back these bills. Russell Country Sportsmen, an MWF affiliate, worked tirelessly on this, and deserves credit for this victory. Hopefully it’s a building block for a statewide solution.
The Teton County Road 380 blockage was highlighted last year in Roadblocked & Landlocked, a joint report by Montana Wildlife Federation and Public Land/Water Access Association on unlawful public access closures in Montana.
