Crazy Mountains Legal Appeal Update

 

 PRESS RELEASE PDF Link   Click to read more...

"Public land advocates appeal the summary judgment entered in favor of U.S. Forest Service and Landowners
Coalition of sportsmen-conservationists maintains the Forest Service is abdicating its duty to uphold and defend public access to historical trails and asks the Ninth Circuit to take another look"

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A lot to unpack here, and don't forget that this Crazy Mountain case has repercussions to all our Federal public lands trails and the privatizing interests know this.

Notice of Appeal pdf

My apologies for the delay in some of the filings postings and overview of where we are at in the Crazy Mountains legal case. Serious covid side effects have pretty much kept me in bed for over 8 months now, since the vaccination in Oct. To add to the issue, 2 days before our hearing on Jan. 18th, I tested positive for Omicron and was doctor ordered, rightly so, not to go anywhere; so I remote called in to listen to the hearing. The hearing questions and statements were an indication of the upcoming Findings and Recommendations produced by Judge Cavan. Respectfully, we disagreed.

Our attorney, Matt Bishop, filed a masterful Objections. But these were also not addressed, with Judge Waters adopting the findings on 3/30/2022.

June 18, 2021 Filings
Reply in Support of Plaintiff's Motion For Summary Judgement
Statement of Disputed Facts
Declaration of Ned Zimmerman (from previous 2007 case)

You can view a number of the filings on the Crazy Mountains Public Access Legal Page.

Energy permitting, I will get the rest of our group's Declarations up there; right now, I just have Brad's and mine.

While some have been discouraged, I expected the local ruling and was looking forward to the appeallate court. So please do not mistake my absence or silence, due to health issues, as defeat or discouragement, far from it. From the beginning of this, I have been in this for the long-haul, expecting we would have to appeal.

In the meantime, Katie Hill, with The Meat Eater, did some research and began writing a series of articles on this Crazy Mountains case,  Vanishing Trails, Part 1: The Battle for One of the West's Most Beloved Mountain Ranges.




On a personal note: Many of you know that I had a TBI head injury and other body impact injuries in Dec. 2014. Aside from constant injury pain, there were brain processing functions that were impaired. This issue is hard to get care for in MT. But, I finally found an injury specialist that used an ultrasound to find obstructions to 2 nerves. After 5 injections, for the first time in over 8 years, I finally have no injury pain on the left shoulder, neck and head, restored movement and flexibility, it has helped clear up some of the multiple vision and a variety of other issues.

No matter what people or doctors tell you, don't give up on your health, keep looking for answers or help. I am persistent that way, even tho some doctors said after a number of years it was too late for hope - I still have not given up. Now on to healing this covid debacle.

Click to be a Contributor to
Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat

Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu Kern
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Helena, MT

 

Crazy Mountains Lawsuit - How you can help

Crazy Mountains Lawsuit - How you can help

Western Environmental Law Center, the firm handling our Crazy Mountains Public Access case against the Forest Service, Custer Gallatin National Forest, has set up a dedicated contribution page, specific to the Crazy Mountains Public Access. If you would like to lend a hand to our public lands, to become a fellow contributor, invested and fighting to maintain the public’s right to access public lands and waters in the Crazy Mountains, please click the link below.

Click to become a Contributor to the Crazy Mountains Public Access

We’re in court fighting for the public’s right to access the Crazy Mountains in Montana. Public trails leading to the Crazies are currently obstructed by unofficial locked gates, and official Forest Service signage has even been removed. The Forest Service is unwilling to reopen the trails, forcing us into the courtroom. Help WELC, Friends of the Crazy Mountains, Enhancing Montana’s Wildlife and Habitat, Skyline Sportsmen’s Alliance, and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers reopen these trails by donating to our legal fund. 

"Western Environmental Law Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our tax identification number is 93-1010269. Your entire donation is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution as allowed by law. Western Environmental Law Center has not provided any goods or services to you for contributions received." 

To donate by check, please mail to:

 

Western Environmental Law Center

120 Shelton McMurphey Blvd., Suite 340
Eugene, Oregon 97401 

To donate by phone, to learn about other ways of giving, or to make recurring gifts through automatic funds transfer, please contact Michelle Loth at 206-487-7244 or loth@westernlaw.org 

I (Kathryn/EMWH.org) still have some research to finish, if you would like to contribute towards these research efforts, please make a RESEARCH note in the ADDITIONAL COMMENTS section on the WELC Donate page, it would be greatly appreciated.

ADDITIONALLY, if you have any Crazy Mountains history, records or trail use you would like to share, please email me at:

kathryn@emwh.org

Recent news articles: 

6/11/2019 Groups sue Forest Service over access issues in Crazy Mountains by Brett French, Billings Gazette

6/10/2019 Groups sue over trail access in Crazy Mountains by Michael Wright, Bozeman Chronicle

6/11/2019 Groups sue Forest Service over trails in the Crazies by Justin Post, Livingston Enterprise

For more information: EMWH's Crazy Mountains Public Access

Press Release - Crazy Mountains Lawsuit Filed

For immediate release 
June 10, 2019 

Contacts: 
Kathryn QannaYahu, Enhancing Montana’s Wildlife and Habitat, kathryn@emwh.org, 406-579-7748

Matthew Bishop, attorney, Western Environmental Law Center, bishop@westernlaw.org, 406-324-8011
Katie McKalip, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, McKalip@backcountryhunters.org, 406-240-9262
Michael Kauffman, attorney, michael@drakemt.com, 406-495-8080 

Public Land Advocates: Forest Service Must Reopen Public Trails in Montana’s Crazy Mountains 

Coalition of sportsmen-conservationists contends the Forest Service is abdicating its duty to uphold and
defend public access to historical trails

HELENA, Mont. – A coalition of conservation-based groups filed a lawsuit today against the U.S. Forest Service to maintain traditional public access opportunities in the Crazy Mountains of Montana. The coalition includes Friends of the Crazy Mountains, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Enhancing Montana’s Wildlife and Habitat, and Skyline Sportsmen.They are represented by the Western Environmental Law Center and the Drake Law Firm. 

The groups’ challenge hinges on the Forest Service’s continued lack of progress and unresponsiveness in maintaining the public’s right to access public lands and waters in the Crazy Mountains. In February, the coalition submitted a letter to the Forest Service summarizing concerns over public access in the Crazies and notifying the agency of its intent to sue should access issues fail to be resolved. 

"The upper levels of the Forest Service chose not to respond or address our local public access concerns and repeated complaints of obstruction,” said Brad Wilson of Friends of the Crazy Mountains, a retired Park County assistant road supervisor and deputy sheriff. “Due to the Forest Service’s negligence, we had no choice but to appeal to the court.” 

The coalition contends that the public, has longstanding and permanent public access to Montana’s Crazy Mountains. The lawsuit charges that until recently the Forest Service supported and maintained the public’s access to the trails, but certain Forest Service leaders now are abdicating their duty to protect and preserve public access there. The suit specifies four trails, two on the west side and two on the east side of the mountain range, that are mapped as public trails, are well known and have been traditionally used by the public but where certain landowners now are illegally and impermissibly attempting to deny public access (Porcupine Lowline #267, Elk Creek #195, East Trunk #115/136 and Sweet Grass #122). 

“Hearing about attempts to obstruct public access obstruction in the Crazy Mountains, I began over 1,100 hours of documentation, FOIA requests to the Forest Service, and historical research that verified these trails are public,” said Kathryn QannaYahu of EMWH. “Especially compelling were the county railroad grant deeds of private land, containing the words 'easement in the public.' What I found angered me, because the public has easement interests on these four trails, which the Service isn't protecting on our behalf. On the contrary, they're allowing certain landowners to attempt to obstruct public access and undermine my and the public's ability to access historic trials in the Crazy Mountains.” 

In a response to Sen. Steve Daines dated Oct. 2, 2015, Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson wrote, “The Forest Service maintains that it holds unperfected prescriptive rights on this trail system, as well as up Sweet Grass Creek to the north based on a history of maintenance with public funds and historic and continued public and administrative use.” 

“We have been transparent in our goal of restoring public access to the Crazy Mountains,” said Tony Schoonen of the Skyline Sportsmen and a member of the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame. “Our coalition has committed substantial work to researching the situation in the Crazies, and we plan to continue pursuing this goal in the public eye. While it’s hardly surprising that some politicians and out-of-state bureaucrats are seeking to steal access to our land, we refuse to let it go without a fight.” 

“The Forest Service is bound to do its job and maintain access to these trails,” said Matthew Bishop of the Western Environmental Law Center. “It’s just that simple. This means managing and maintaining the trails, replacing and reinstalling national forest trail markers and signs, and ensuring public access on our public trails in the Crazy Mountains.” 

In the words of the Forest Service’s own attorneys regarding one of these trails: “Indeed, it would be irresponsible of the Forest Service to simply abandon these easement rights or fail to reflect their existence in the travel plan simply to avoid the souring of relationships between landowners and recreational groups.” 

“These trails are public and were managed that way for many years. We stand with those hardworking Forest Service employees committed to responsibly managing our public lands and waters,” concluded John Sullivan, chair of the Montana chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. “Forest Service leadership has stated that these trails are public, yet somewhere along the line their tune changed. We have no intention of standing idly by while this faction engages in the very behavior it has deemed irresponsible. We will fight for the public’s right to access these public lands and waters, which are central to our Montana way of life.”

Click to become a Contributor to Crazy Mountains Public Access

Photos and map of the trails are available here.  

Crazy Mountains Public Access FAQs

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I want to thank those individuals who have subscribed and contributed, which has assisted in my research on the Crazy Mountains over the years, more recently Montana Sportsmen Alliance, Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, Dan Mahn, Nancy Ostlie, Greg Munther, Gayle Joslin, Donald, Stein, Paul Olson, Hallie Rugheimer, Mike Korn, Brad Wilson, John Daggett, Dwayne Garner and James McGehee.

I still have some research to finish, if you would like to contribute towards these efforts, it would be greatly appreciated.

Click to be a Contributor or Subscriber to
Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat


Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Helena, MT

Watchdogging our Montana Public Access

Crazy Mountains

Yesterday, I was listening while two friends shared with me their stories of a Mountain Goat hunt in the Crazy Mountains. One of the hunters spent nearly a months worth of days, becoming intimately familiar with the Crazies' Forest Service trails.

I stopped him after a moment, pulled out my Crazy Mountains FS map that I have mounted to a large tri-fold presentation board for all my research, then asked him to resume his story. I wanted to visually see his trips, where he had gone. On the west side he went from from the Porcupine Trailhead on #267 to Elk Creek #195 to the saddle. He also went Cottonwood #271 to Trespass Creek #268, over the saddle, then east to Trail #123 on to Campfire Lake, then continuing on to Trail #122. South, he went north on Rock Creek #270. From the east he drove to the Sweet Grass Trailhead, taking #122 west to #273 to Sunlight Lake, southwest to #123 to Moose Lake and Campfire Lake – all the while following the public FS trails through checkerboarded private property, without asking for permission or signing in. At one point, the hunters went back to a trail and the landowner had a locked gate obstructing their access.

Seeing all the different trails represented in such a concentrated time period really drove home the importance of public access into and through the Crazy Mountains. Since 2014, when I began researching the Crazies, I have had the pleasure of hearing a number of public access accounts while researching (over 1100 hours now); these personal public access stories help to flesh out the history and importance our public lands have in our lives.

If you have recreated in the Crazy Mountains, using our public Forest Service trails, without asking for permission or signing in, within the last 5 years, even if you were met with an access obstruction, I would love to hear about your personal experience.

You can reach me by email at kathryn@emwh.org or phone: 406-579-7748

Montana Legislation SB 341 Update

Some of y'all may have seen news articles or if you submitted a letter to the Governor's office as I did, you might have received a reply May 3rd (mine is below), acknowledging this bill had legal issues concerning a private landowner being able to use these funding agreements, the sign ins and monies paid to work towards reverse adverse use if any historic prescriptive easement public access currently exists, as I stated. Bullock's answer was to direct FWP to adopt rules to determine if any public access already exists. This was a cop out, Rules are not a safety net here and problematic for a number of reasons.

1. A law trumps a rule in legal court. Rules can also be changed by going through a petition process, as I stated before. This is why the Republicans involved refused to have that language included in the bill text.

2. IF the Republican/landowner/stockgrower/farm bureau groups don't object to FWP rules "limiting or repealing" this law or their property rights laws, or threatening to sue on that front, then we proceed to the next stage. And which of you is going to participate in the Rulemaking process to attempt to protect any pre-existing public access? You clearly cannot trust the same people that didn't protect you in the bill drafting or legislative process.

3. IF the rules are put in place to first require FWP to research these roads & trails, the cost burden of manpower hours and research now falls on us, our public dollars, not the landowner, to research any pre-existing access. With only 10% of available funds allowed for administration, this could blow through administration funds faster than they appropriated for. I can tell you how much work it takes to do this type of research (please note my 1100+ hours above). How many employees are they going to train and divert for this type of research? I am also aware of a professional hired to take inventory in the 1940's of contested trails and roads in a certain area. Whoever did the inventory, whether intentionally or shoddily, did not include deeds beneficial to public access, that I was easily able to find, so why didn't they???

4. IF a landowner's application turns up pre-existing access and is denied, is a landowner then going to threaten to sue under point no. 2, for a rule "limiting or repealing" his right to pursue reverse adverse use, since historical pre-existing public access was not an exclusionary criteria listed in the bill?

5. IF a case gets approved, that turns out to have pre-existing public access, who of you is going to going to sue FWP for not better researching or Governor Bullock for not vetoing this bs? He is not going to be in office much longer anyway.

6. And who in the public is going to watchdog this whole process for every application, for every year going forward, because this is now a law? The hunter/angler groups that lobbied for this supposed great bipartisan access bill, even lying to legislators or making vote deals, who knew this bill was messed up? One of those groups has now screwed y'all over on Bullwhacker public access being restored and this bill/law, with their backroom dealings, using your member or contribution dollars to do it.

I have contacted FWP legal to find out the Rulemaking schedule for this law, leaving a message.

Click to be a Contributor or Subscriber to
Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat


Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Helena, MT

Notice of intent to sue - Crazy Mountains

"Our failure to sue to protect the public interest is a failure of leadership at all levels."
~ District Ranger Alex Sienkiewicz, Crazy Mountains, FOIA Documents

Those of you on this EMWH Newsletter know that I have been on the ground documenting, in the records offices, placing numerous FOIA requests for over 4 years working on the Crazy Mountains public access issues, so it is with great relief to finally report the following press release.

Notice of Intent to Sue - Crazy Mountains

Notice of Intent to Sue Letter PDF 

While it may have appeared quiet on the Crazy Mountains front, it has not been quiet behind the scenes.

A number of Crazy Mountains public access to our public lands advocates have been working with Attorney Matthew Bishop at the Western Environmental Law Center to pursue, if necessary, a civil action against the U.S. Forest Service’s decision for failing to protect and defend public access rights in the Crazy Mountains. This includes public trails on both the west and east side of the Crazy Mountains. The first step is this “Notice of intent to sue” letter. 

The coalition is made up of Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Friends of the Crazy Mountains, Enhancing Montana’s Wildlife and Habitat, the Skyline Sportsmen Association, John Daggett, Tony Schoonen, Harold Johns, Justin Mandic, and John Gibson; informed and engaged organizations and individuals, including many hunters and anglers, hikers, and recreationalists who value our public lands and the challenge, peace, and solitude that occurs with a backcountry experience. 

The Coalition is intimately familiar with the Crazy Mountains and has and continues to use the existing, public trails depicted on the Service’s maps, forest plan, and travel plan (and road access to such trails) for all forms of outdoor recreation, including hiking, fishing, and hunting. Yet, the Coalition and other members of the public have been and continue to be confronted with locked gates and “no forest service access” signs on well-known and historic public trails. They also routinely encounter “no trespassing” signs and “keep out” or “permission required” signs at public trailheads and along public trails in the Crazy Mountains. 

The Coalition is thus compelled to submit this notice letter to the U.S. Forest Service, USFS Region 1 and the Supervisor of the Custer Gallatin National Forest and, if necessary, pursue legal action. The Coalition is particularly concerned about the Service’s decision and/or related failure to protect and defend public access on five specific trails in the Crazy Mountains:

 

• Lowline Porcupine trail (No. 267);

• Elk Creek trail (No. 195);

• Sweetgrass trail (No. 122);

• East Trunk trail (No. 136, formerly No. 115); and

• Swamp Lake trail (No. 43).

The Coalition intends to challenge the Service’s decision to forgo new NEPA on the west-side for the proposed trail re-route (and related decision to relinquish the public's rights on those trails) and, in addition, intends to pursue additional claims on both the west-side and east-side for non-compliance with NFMA, NFMA’s implementing regulations, the forest plan, 2006 travel plan, and the Service’s own directives and policy, all of which imposes a duty on the Service to protect and defend public access to our public lands in the Crazy Mountains.

The next step is a possible meeting with the Forest Service.

Thank you for your continued support for public access to our public lands into the Crazy Mountains, now, and for future generations.

Click to be a Contributor or Subscriber to
Enhancing Montana's Wildlife & Habitat


Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748
www.EMWH.org
Helena, MT