Don't let public access slip away

It appears a public access dilemma on Church Slough may be solved. And hopefully future threats to public access can be deterred just as easily.

The lesson at hand, however, is that county commissioners or other land managers should never rush headlong into road abandonments that result in the loss of access to public resources.

In this case, the Flathead County board of commissioners was intent on abandoning a portion of Wagner Lane largely because the makeshift boat ramp has caused considerable traffic, litter and noise problems for neighbors. But it has also long served as the main public access to Church Slough.

Now it appears the conflict may be solved with a proposal from a developer who is purchasing land along the slough: Dennis Carver proposes donating a slice of land to serve as a better access than the crummy one that has been there for years.

Good for Carver.

Access is becoming an increasingly important public interest in the Flathead Valley and other places in Montana where trophy homes and developments and fencelines with "no trespassing" signs are becoming far too common. Ask any older hunter or angler who grew up in the Flathead about changes in access, and you're bound to get an earful.

The problem with road abandonments that have occurred across the state is that they often tend to appear inconsequential by themselves. Some old county road leading to a pond or river may not get used much, but it's still there. And it adds up, losing those here and there over time.

That's why House Bill 269 was a good piece of legislation, and it came into play on Church Slough.

The law, passed last year, states that a county road or right-of-way that provides access to public lands and water can't be abandoned "unless another public road or right-of-way provides substantially the same access."

Certainly, lawyers can bicker over the finer points of the law, but in this case, there was no need for the issue to turn ugly.

What matters is the intent of the law - to prevent the wanton abandonment of public access to public lands and water. On Church Slough, no one seems particularly upset with the abandonment itself and indeed many folks support it. What matters for the public interest, however, was the loss of access that has existed for as long as folks can remember.

This one looks like it may have a happy ending.