Locked out – Montana’s public lands belong to everyone, but private landowners can still make them hard to access

"Everyone sits back like it’s no big deal. When does somebody do something about it?"

In Montana alone, more than a dozen access conflicts have flared up in recent years, as landowners gate off traditional access routes and effectively put hundreds of square miles of public land out of reach for people like Newmiller. Some conflicts, including the one here at Sweet Grass Creek, have smoldered for years or even decades. In many cases, landowners profit from the exclusive access to adjacent public land.

By Marshall Swearingen

Full Story: http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/locked-out/Content?oid=2127542&showFullText=true