Montana Candidate for Governor Sues MTFWP to block Fishing Access...

Fishing Access Site on Ruby River is just one of several hundred scattered across the state which gives anglers free public access to fish up and down through public or private lands so long as we stay below the high water mark fishing through private...

...If you have followed my many past rants directed at greedy, always rich beyond belief, bastards who would take away this right...actually  law...you know I don't pull any punches telling the pricks what I think and where and what they can do with their scum-bag ways. Am I naive enough to think any of this does much good, that it'll somehow go away...in two words...HELL NO! 

Comes now this latest gem...Seems an SOB, name of Greg Gianforte, who is somewhat amazingly, running for governor, pulled this little stunt awhile back, one that should kill any chance of becoming elected. 

Seems in 2009, Greg and Susan Gianforte sued the Montana department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, seeking to get rid of a Fishing Access site anglers had used for almost 40 years to fish the East Gallatin River. Imagine...

Little more than a dirt road, maybe 75 yards long, that led from a county road to the bank of the river. This access route had been used regularly enough since the 1970s so that in 1993 the public acquired a legal right to use the road. The spur led not only to the river but to an entire riparian area of 75 public acres, owned and managed by FWP for the enjoyment and general use of all citizens but... 

The easement crossed the far end of the Gianfortes’s property. And so after purchasing the lot with the easement and building a trophy house (don't they all?) on the banks of the river the bastards took the issue to court. 

 Filed (sneakily) by a company called “East Gallatin LLC,” whose registered agent is listed as Susan Gianforte and whose address is listed as the family’s home. And if this meal is not tasty enough for you, there’s desert: Art Wittich was the attorney that the Gianfortes hired to bring the lawsuit. Wittich now has an attorney of his own, defending him from being evicted from office. Why someone with $400 million would hire Art Wittich to represent him when he could get anyone in the world is an interesting question.

Like many other things in the Gianforte’s past, to say nothing he is just another in a long-line of arrogant, greedy, self-serving jerks from elsewhere, who move to Montana to build a trophy home and fence off public land. And it’s made even worse by the fact that he tried to hide behind a corporate veil when he filed the suit, to shield his identity and had his wife file as agent. 

So much for his constant TV diatribe, "have a plan to fix all of Montana's woes"...Yeah, right!

Millions Acres Montana's Private Lands Locked-up For Outfitting...

Why do we care so much about public land access ? Put simply: Because if the current trend to lease private to outfitters continues there won't be anywhere else for us poor folk to hunt (or fish, or recreate). The brown areas on the above map of Montana show about 19 million acres private lands currently being to outfitters for commercial hunting. In other words the average hunter is now locked out of about 1/3 of Montana's 59 million acres...And considering in 2012 there was just 7 million acres leased there appears to be no end in sight.

Consider also of the private land that’s not leased much that remains is urban/suburban, industrial, governed by Indian tribes, or not suitable for wildlife or hunting.

The map doesn’t detail the variety of hunting but in my experience the majority is for big-game, with lesser acreage for upland bird hunting, waterfowl, turkey and even predator hunting. Hard to believe but recently I saw an outfitter ad for shooting ground squirrels (yes, pay handsomely to shoot gophers for cripes sake...like around here ranchers beg for shooters)

THIS LAND IS OUR LAND...

Rainbow, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana

...But NOT SO FAST, for here we go yet again…

…Yes, I know the efforts of a handful crooked, greedy, self-serving politicians to sell off our public lands really has never stopped and doubtless never will until we—hunters, fishermen, campers, mountain bike riders, ATVers, snowmobilers, every last one of us who recreate on public lands comes together to vote the bastards out…

Until then we can count on a never-ending barrage of egregious bills such as the most recent entry submitted by Alaska’s head henchman, Congressman Don Young.

In a nutshell the bill would permit the sale of millions of acres of National Forest to the states. It would allow each state to sell up to 2-million acres of National Forest to be managed strictly for timber production. These lands would no longer be managed as “Multiple Use” thus the management of fish and wildlife would go down the drain. The bill makes no mention of maintaining public access nor does it require states to retain title, clearing the way for sale to to private entities.

Should this baby pass there is no reason to believe the flood gates will be flung wide open for any special interest group to get similar crap through the halls of a Congress which has to rank right up there with the smelliest ever.

If you buy this rant please take the time to contact your legislators and tell them bluntly “WE WILL NOT STAND FOR ANY MORE BS.”