Stream access laws with Jim Goetz

Montana State is known as Trout U, and part of its legacy as being a legendary school for fly fishers is due to Montana’s stream access laws. Last Thursday Jim Goetz, a Montana native and successful lawyer, who has helped defend stream access for fishermen, spoke at MSU in the annual Trout Lecture put on by the University.

When anglers in Montana head to a river to fish, they are allowed to access rivers that flow through public and private land. As long as a stream is legally accessed via public land or public road crossing, anglers are allowed to use the river. This opens up hundreds of miles of streams and rivers across the state that would be illegal to fish in states like Wyoming and Colorado where private landowners can own the riverbed. In these states, even anchoring a boat on a private stretch of river is considered trespassing.

In his talk, Goetz explained how Montana’s stream access law has been shaped by formative cases over the years that give anglers the rights they enjoy today. Goetz was principally responsible for winning the 1984 case: Montana Coalition for Stream Access vs. Curran, in which the Montana supreme court ruled that “a private party may not interfere with traffic along a stream because ‘any surface waters that are capable of recreational use may be so used by the public without regard to streambed ownership or navigability for non recreational purposes.” This ruling essentially gave anglers the right to use any stream for recreation provided that it was accessed via public land. 

In the same year, Goetz won another stream access case on behalf of the Montana Coalition for Stream access that upheld the public’s right to use the Beaverhead River for recreation, despite a claim by a landowner that the riverbed belonged to him. In his talk, Goetz recounted an interview in which, through a clever line of questioning, he outwitted his opponent into admitting to recreating on private portions of the Beaverhead which he did not own, thus making his case seem utterly hypocritical. 

Goetz went on to speak about the importance of continuing to protect stream access for anglers across the state as there will surely be challenges to past rulings. “Montana has the best stream access laws in the nation,” Goetz said. Anglers at Trout U are sure to agree, and should strive to keep it that way.