Ranch wants road closed to public
Officials argue easement on that land necessary
GREAT FALLS – A ranch owner in Teton County in western Montana has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to declare a road through the private ranch to public lands off limits to the public.
The Great Falls Tribune reported that Salmond Ranch filed the lawsuit Oct. 10 in Teton County District Court.
“They don’t really want to do this, but they feel they’re forced to do it to get the issue resolved,” said Justin Lee, an attorney for the Salmonds.
The Salmond Road has been posted with “no trespassing” signs since 1988. But sportsmen and public access advocates have contested the legality of barring the public from the road southwest of Choteau. The road leads to state lands that are open for public recreation.
Teton County officials plan to contest the ranch owner’s request to ban the public from the road.
“The county will answer that and, yes, make a claim that we have a public easement, a right to a public easement over that land and that road,” said Teton Attorney Joe Coble. “That will put it in a posture for a court to decide who has what rights there.”
Ranch owners in the complaint contend there is no established road on the property. But public access advocates say Teton County abandoned the road in 1930 on the condition ranch owners grant public access with an easement crossing the property.
“This public grant of right of way belongs to the citizens of Montana and it’s the obligation of the state to prosecute it for the benefit for everybody,” said Tim Callahan, a Seattle attorney who grew up in Montana and was among the first to contest the road closing on the Salmond Ranch.
In an unrelated case, Attorney General Steve Bullock on Monday announced he was suing a Meagher County rancher for putting up a gate on a road crossing his land in the Little Belt Mountains. Howard Zehntner contends the road is closed to the public, but the state argues it’s open to the public.