Is GOP for or against stream access?

Billings legislator calls out House GOP for blocking Stream Access bill.

Access fight continues in House

GOP legislators and the Montana Stockgrowers Association are balking at the Stream Access Bill amended into a bridge repair bill by Gov. Brian Schweitzer this week.

GOP leaders say access needs two years of study. The governor says that's a diversion.

TU protects Front

Trout Unlimited has picked up additional oil and gas leases, protecting the Rocky Mountain Front from energy development.

Hunters and anglers fund wildlife

Montana collects share of Pittman-Robertson funds, to the tune of $16 million.

Governor revives access bill

Gov. Brian Schweitzer revived the Stream Access bill this week, amending a bill that would increase funding for bridge repair.

The governor said if the state was fixing the bridges, citizens better have access.

“My proposed amendment would ensure that expenditures of money from the county road and bridge capital improvement fund are spent on county roads and bridges that are in compliance with Montana law as it concerns the public’s right of access to Montana’s rivers and streams,” Schweitzer wrote in his amendatory veto letter.

House kills access bill

A House committee tabled the Stream Access Bill Tuesday after a number of amendments that would have limited access were added to the bill.

The battle to clarify laws for stream access at bridge crossings continues.

No joke

The Bitterroot River skwala hatch is finally taking off. On April Fool's Day, Bill Watt, of Flagstaff, Ariz., caught this 18-inch rainbow on a dry fly of his own creation. He was floating south of Darby, and boated more than a half dozen fish, all 15 inches or better.

Wolf problem in Yellowstone?

Are wolves, drought or hunters the cause of Yellowstone's elk population decline?

Check your bilge

Montanan boaters are reminded to check their boats for invasive species.