Not only do these poor land practices cause problems for water quality but also for big game wildlife habitat, security, and winter range. Cattle trample stream banks causing major erosion, increased runoff and increased sedimentation that raises water temperature, increases nutrients and chokes naturally occurring aquatic life. All citizens may legally access the state's rivers and streams between the 'high water marks'. This law, established and fought for by the Montana Wildlife Federation in the 70's. has recently come under attack by a few elite land owners. We are actively fighting any and all efforts to restrict access for the general public to state waterways.
Public access is also a growing problem to public lands.
New owners of some large tracts of land are closing off access points to public lands that have historically been open. They hope to create their own private playground, or to use the public waterways for their personal profit with guided fishing packages. Just as detrimental to public access is the growing trend among some large and privileged state ranchers to get local county commissions to abandon public roads. By abandoning these roads, historic public access to public lands is blocked and adjacent landowners gain exclusive access privileges. This privilege is often turned into an economic asset by leasing the land for outfitting or fee hunting.