In a Tale as Old as the West, Wealthy Californians Moved to Montana, Blocked Historic River Access

In a Tale as Old as the West, Wealthy Californians Moved to Montana and Blocked Historic River Access

A conflict in the state’s richest valley pitted out-of-state landowners against local hunters and anglers over a few crucial feet of land

https://www.outdoorlife.com/conservation/montana-river-access-blocked-off/

BY KATIE HILL | UPDATED AUG 8, 2023 4:34 PM EDT

CONSERVATION

gallatin river access dispute montana

What happens when new landowners fence off what the public long thought belonged to them?. Katie Hill

The history of America’s West is marred by disputes over land ownership—if not all-out wars—and so too will be its future. During the COVID-19 pandemic, well-off residents from California, Washington, and Texas sought their own slice of the mountains and moved to Montana in droves. For every 100 people that left the state in 2020, 372 moved in. As a result, many mountain town locals have felt a crowding and degradation of their public lands and waters.


In Montana, the state stream access law remains a bright spot. But public water hunters and anglers have found themselves increasingly at an impasse with the new, fast-growing population of riverfront landowners, thanks to the mass-wealth migration that’s priced many multi-generation Westerners out of their hometowns. Cookie-cutter housing developments full of large, sleek abodes sprawl across valley floors in places like Gallatin County, eating up what was traditionally agricultural land nestled between vast mountain ranges. In March 2023, the median cost of a single-family home in Montana’s wealthiest county was almost $700,000. (Thirteen months before that, it was $1.1 million.)

What follows is the story of how one small bit of river access on the outskirts of Bozeman disappeared after years of complaints and dispute between the public and new landowners from California. The impact of the closure is small; anyone with a map can find other access points to the Gallatin River just a few miles upstream and downstream, assuming the parking lots aren’t full. But this story’s main characters say this is a cautionary tale for what the West could look like in the future. In other words: As more wealthy out-of-towners move in, locals will lose public access not through some dramatic showdown, but through slow, mind-numbing, bureaucratic processes.


Access Lost

Matt Treinen was searching the sky for mallards when his phone buzzed in his pocket. A restricted number made him wary of answering, but he picked up on impulse. It was a Gallatin County sheriff’s deputy, telling Treinen he needed to come back to the access point he used that morning.

Treinen and his hunting buddy Jeremy Sarren left their guns and gear and waded a mile down Montana’s Gallatin River. They took care to stay well below the high-water mark that divides private land from the public water. When the two hunters reached the access point—a worn path climbing the riverbank to a wide shoulder on a county road—they found two deputies parked in a patrol car.

Treinen and Sarren showed the cops the exact route they had used to access the Gallatin River, how they navigated around new fences and “No Trespassing” signs that someone had installed on the shoulder of River Road. Deeming their route to the river legal, the deputies released the two hunters.


access point to river

Wire fence blocks off the spot Treinen, Sarren, and others used to get to the river below. Katie Hill
But just 15 minutes later, as they were working their way back to their setup, Treinen got another call. The deputy told the hunters to come back.