New land access program in MT legislature

[MLaird]

I hope this makes it through. Might not make a ton of difference right away but it seems like a step in the right direction...and by the GOP!

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[Ben Lamb]

MWF, MTTU, RMEF, MT Association of Land Trusts, Stockgrowers, Farm Bureau, FWP and Senate leadership (Mark Blasdel & Fred Thomas in particular) have been working on this for most of the session. There are some amendments coming to clean up a few issues that have been raised related to rulemaking, etc.

This is a collaborative effort that has a lot of support. It started out with a good idea, and we've been able to all work together to bring this forward. In essence, it's a term agreement with a landowner to establish access where none exists to landlocked public lands.

Other access bills this session include:

SB 301: This makes it harder to illegally gate county roads. It passed the Senate 45-5 and was sent to House Judiciary, which is a kill committee. We expect it to be tabled there.

HB 550: This bill eliminates the gas tax map on certain roads, which would make it much more difficult to prove whether a road is a county road or not. We're opposing, as well as many other groups. It is expected to pass the Legislature.

HB 265: This re-injects politics back into conservation easements by forcing the landboard into the decision making process, when the original intent of Habitat Montana was not to bring easements in front of the land board.