Montanans Swarm State Capitol to Protest Stream Access Restrictions

High school students joined outfitters and conservationists in Butte, Montana to protest H.B. Bill 309, which many fear is a back door to blocking stream access for the state’s anlgers. As Nick Gevock reports in the Missoulian, “five students joined more than 350 people who packed the Senate Agriculture Livestock and Irrigation Committee hearing on House Bill 309. The controversial bill, carried by Rep. Jeff Welborn, R-Dillon, would allow landowners to block public access to waterways diverted for irrigation.”

Meanwhile the Montana Farm Bureau is charging Trout Unlimited busing the supporters in and Dillon, Montana rancher suggested the new law is needed because irrigation ditches are dangerous.