Stream access gets judicial boost

A state judge has affirmed the right to access streams from Montana’s public bridges in a ruling that also said property owners can build fences up to the edge of a bridge.

State District Court Judge Loren Tucker issued the split ruling in a lawsuit filed in Madison County. The county was sued in 2004 after allowing fences to be attached to three bridges crossing the Ruby River.

James Cox Kennedy – a Madison Valley landowner and the billionaire chief executive of the media giant Cox Enterprises – had intervened in the case to argue against public stream access at bridges bordered by fences.

Tucker sided with the Public Lands Access Association in rejecting that argument. But he also said it was reasonable to allow fences for livestock as long as public access over the fences is allowed.

Associated Press

NATIONAL FORESTS

Panhandle names deputy supervisor

Maggie Pittman, a 31-year Forest Service employee, has been named deputy forest supervisor for the 2.5 million acre Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

“Her success as a line officer and her strong background in natural resources and fire management will serve the agency and the communities of North Idaho well,” said Ranotta McNair, forest supervisor.

Pittman has been the Missoula District Ranger on the Lolo National Forest since May 2004. Prior to that, she served as the deputy center manager for the Missoula Development and Technology Center and the deputy director for the northern region’s public and governmental affairs unit.

Rich Landers

PUBLIC LANDS

Utah cracks down on ORV violators

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said off-road vehicles are destroying the state’s natural beauty and he plans to crack down on those that stray from trails.

“It’s an abomination, it’s an embarrassment,” Huntsman, a Republican, told the Salt Lake Tribune’s editorial board last week.

Huntsman said he recently visited the area around Moab with David Bonderman, a venture capitalist and major financial supporter for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

“I wanted to get a sense of what the concern was, and it became a concern to me,” he said.

As a result, he told the Department of Natural Resources to increase enforcement on state land.

“You penalize them. … You give them tickets, you charge them, you fine them, which is what we’re going to be doing through” the department, he said.

The state also will begin airing a public service announcement featuring Chad Reed, a top motocross rider.

Michael Swenson of the Utah Shared Access Alliance, an ORV group, said off-roaders should obey the law, but that some rules are unreasonable.

“There are many cases where there is not a travel plan in place or there is one that was put together in such a fashion that the recreation community just cannot support it,” he said. “We understand why there is this perception of abuse, and I guess really it depends on your point of view.”

Associated Press

HUNTING

Oregonians taking up arms

After a generation of declining numbers, the number of deer hunters in Oregon appears to be on the way up.

The number of deer hunters declined for 25 years, from 317,473 in 1981 to 171,680 in 2005.

In 2007, hunter numbers had rebounded by about 10 percent, to 188,870.

Elk hunting was up for the third year in a row.

Associated Press

WILDLIFE

Bighorns decline in Wyoming

Wyoming’s bighorn sheep population has declined 15 percent in the past 20 years, according to Wyoming Game and Fish Department estimates. In 1987, the state had an estimated 6,680 bighorn sheep. Ten years later the population had shrunk to about 6,240. And by 1997, the statewide bighorn numbers had dropped to 5,680.

Some bighorn herds around the state have seen some increases in their numbers in recent years. But the Wind River Range’s Whiskey Mountain herd, the state’s most famous bighorn herd, has dwindled to about 700 animals from over 2,000 less than 20 years ago. Herd numbers have stabilized only in recent years following a catastrophic outbreak of pneumonia in 1991.

Associated Press