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On Thursday, May 14, two conservation groups announced a lawsuit with significant interest to hunters and anglers in the Treasure State. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) and Public Land & Water Access Association Partners (PLWA) are suing Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) to \u201ccement the legality of corner crossing in Montana, and ensure access for all Americans to approximately 871,000 acres of public lands in Montana.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The move comes just over a year after the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corner crossing\u2014walking from the corner of one parcel to the corner of another without setting foot on private property\u2014on federal land does not violate federal law. The ruling results from an attempt to prosecute a group of Wyoming hunters who corner-crossed to reach hunting grounds. It was a major win for outdoorsmen in the West, where some 8.3 million acres of public land is \u201ccorner locked,” according to an OnX report. However, because of the limits of legal jurisdiction, the ruling only legalized corner crossing in six states: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Shortly following the ruling, public land access advocates pushed nearby Montana to follow suit. However, the state\u2019s officials resisted, and Lieutenant Governor Kristen Juras has repeatedly said that corner crossing is not lawful. Just this past week, she gave a presentation arguing that \u201cthe law is clear that it\u2019s a trespass,\u201d according to state statutes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
While there has been a lot of movement on the issue in recent years, the saga over the legality of corner crossing is not new. \u201cFor decades, FWP wardens have been explicitly instructed not to issue citations for individuals who access public lands in this manner,\u201d explains BHA in a press release provided to MeatEater. \u201cDespite this long-standing precedent, FWP recently issued unilateral administrative guidance declaring corner crossing unlawful, and in a major reversal from previous guidance, has instructed its wardens to issue citations for criminal trespass or hunting without landowner permission to anyone who accesses public land this way. BHA and PLWA contend that is an overreach of administrative authority, and the lawsuit challenges it directly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what side of the barbed wire, or political aisle you stand on, we are all public landowners with a vested interest in our public lands,” said Ryan Callaghan, BHA President and CEO. \u201cCorner crossing while respecting private property is a practical \u2018middle ground\u2019 that the vast majority of Montanans support. Shutting the public out of 871,000 acres of public lands is not.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The lawsuit was filed in Lewis and Clark County District Court and seeks to \u201csecure a durable resolution\u201d on the issue. \u201cThere is a commonsense path that respects private property while ensuring public lands aren\u2019t effectively blocked,\u201d said PLWA Executive Director Alex Leone. \u201cWe\u2019ve worked in good faith to find that solution and remain ready to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
MeatEater has long supported efforts to ensure the legality of corner crossing, formerly raising over $66,000 for the Wyoming BHA Corner Crossing Defense Fund. \u201cAs a sitting member of the North American Board of Directors for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, I\u2019ve gotten to see firsthand the due diligence and extreme effort put in by the BHA staff to solve for the corner-crossing challenge across the West and here in Montana,\u201d said MeatEater Director of Conservation Mark Keynon. \u201cThis new effort represents just the latest example of BHA being willing to go out on a limb and do the hard work necessary to ensure a better future for public lands and access to them for hunters and anglers. I\u2019m eager to see the fruits of the labor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n