Years ago, a California friend of some means sought a ranch in Montana where he could raise buffalo and enjoy the wide-open spaces far from strangers. Late one night, he found himself in a cowboy bar with his realtor mulling over the properties they had seen and the ones lined up for the next day. Out of the blue, the realtor, a Montana native, brought up the Montana Stream Access Law, which prohibits owners from excluding anyone seeking to recreate in and along the non-navigable streams, including the stream bed that they own and abutting their property.

“You mean,” sputtered my friend, slamming his beer on the bar, “someone can wade right up to the river’s edge and come up onto my land?”

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