Bridge bill tabled

HELENA - The Senate Fish and Game Committee on Thursday tabled a controversial bill that would have limited recreational access from bridges.

Committee member Sen. Bea McCarthy, D-Anaconda, said the vote effectively killed Senate Bill 418, which was introduced by Sen. Chuck Swysgood, R-Dillon.

Swysgood's proposal would have prohibited using bridge rights of way for recreational access to rivers and streams unless access was specifically stipulated in the original easement agreement.

Supporters said the legislation was not about recreational access but simply defined the scope of use allowed by bridge easements.

Opponents said the bill would gut Montana's Stream Access Law, which allows recreationists to use the water in rivers and streams between the high water marks on the banks. Although many of the larger rivers in the state have several public fishing access sites, opponents said recreationists also depend on bridges for access, especially on smaller streams. ,

Swysgood said he introduced the bill because of increasing conflicts between landowners and sportsmen. He agreed recreational access is important, but said the state needs to be careful not to expand the definition or use of easements for that purpose.

The committee also passed a revised version of a bill to limit commercial use of the Big Hole and Beaverhead rivers.

The bill, also introduced b Swysgood, originally would have required guides to stay off the rivers on weekends and cap the number of guides allowed at 1998 level@, while outlining development of a recreation management plan.

Committee chairman Sen. Ken Mesaros, R-Cascade, said amendments offered by outfitters, guides, sportsmen, ranchers and legislators were adopted.

House passes bill on

hunter permission

HELENA - All Montana hunters would have to get the owner's permission before hunting on private land under a bill approved Tuesday by the Montana House.

Under current state law, big game hunters must ask permission first to hunt on land that is not posted. However, bird hunters and others need not. The law grants the presumption that, unless the land is posted, hunting is allowed.

Senate Bill 171, introduced by rancher - lawmaker Sen. Ken Mesaros, R-Cascade, extends the ask-first requirement to all hunters. Already approved by the Senate, it won a preliminary House vote Tuesday, 57-43. SB171faces one more vote in the House and the Senate would then consider House changes.

"Based on the mail, we've been getting, some people seem to think this is the end of the Hunting world, but it's not," said Rep. Robert Story, R-Park City, who presented the bill on the House floor.

The bill provides a maximum penalty of $25 for any first offense by other than big game hunters. Big game hunters have been required by state law since 1965 to ask the landowner's permission and would continue to face a penalty ranging from $50 to $1,000 or up to six months in jail for failure to do so.

So would any hunter who commits a second or subsequent violation under the new law.

The House rejected a proposed amendment Tuesday that would have exempted from the law any hunter who fails to obtain permission to hunt on land that is neither fenced nor posted.

Sportsmen who testified against the bill in committee complained of the difficulty hunters have of determining property boundaries in the field. In response, language was added directing the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to work with other state and federal agencies, hunters and landowners to develop accurate maps that identify land ownership boundaries in Montana.