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I grew up in central Montana but now live on the west coast too, and I’m astonished at how quickly it’s changing. The bellwether for me is the fact that stream
by ewhanley 9y ago
I grew up in central Montana but now live on the west coast too, and I’m astonished at how quickly it’s changing. The bellwether for me is the fact that stream access law* is being challenged (most notably by Gianforte and other wealthy, often absentee landowners). If public stream access is lost, I’ll know the state and it’s civic makeup has changed irreversibly.
*Everything below the high water mark is publicly accessible per Montana state law.
- takk309 9y agoGianforte is the best example of wealthy land owners blocking access. He came from out of state, got luck with his tech company when Oracle came knocking, and now he wants to pretend he is the embodiment of Montana. All the while he is more than happy to block access to others whenever he can.
- enraged_camel 9y agoForget about being an absentee wealthy landowner. The dude chokeslammed a Guardian journalist for having the audacity to try to get him to answer some questions. Then he got elected to Congress!
- typeformer 9y agoThis is very true, changing that law would be totally catastrophic!
- derefr 9y ago> Everything below the high water mark is publicly accessible per Montana state law Huh, does that mean you can legally travel through someone's private property by walking/wading the length of a stream that passes through it? (i.e. the stream is effectively a public footpath?)
- s0rce 9y agoI'm not from MT but I believe that is the correct interpretation, similiar to the laws surrounding California coastline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Stream_Access_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Stream_Access_Law
- chrisweekly 9y agoThis concept gets a fascinating and thorough exploration in the form of post-icecap-melt “intertidal” zones in KSR’s epic _NY 2140_. Picture lower Manhattan submerged at high tide. A highly recommended read.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ewhanley 9y agoIt certainly does. You just have to enter from a public access point. This point could be as formal as a maintained fishing access or as informal as any bridge on a public thoroughfare.