Homeowners post threatening sign on new gate

By Perry Backus

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    BITTERROOT, Montana (Ravalli Republic) — The long-simmering controversy over access to a remote road in the upper reaches of the West Fork of the Bitterroot has turned up a notch this summer after a landowner built a new gate and posted it with a sign that said trespassers could get shot.

The new gate was built a few hundred feet beyond the location where county officials removed a gate twice this year following a court decision that found the Hughes Creek Road to be open to the public.

Ravalli County Commissioner Jeff Burrows said the county is working to determine who owns the land where the new gate is located before taking further action.

“We want to make sure that we’re doing our due diligence,” Burrows said. “We want to both protect public health and safety and protect the landowner’s rights as well.”

The controversy over access to the remote area dates back to 1970, when the first gate appeared across the road originally built in 1900 to access mining claims. Landowners have taken their arguments that the road should be closed to the public to the Montana Supreme Court twice and lost.

County crews removed the old gate last winter, but it was rebuilt in the same location.

In May, the county sent a letter to Levi and Darby Merritt saying the gate on their property was an encroachment blocking a county road. Burrows said the Merritts — who are relatively new landowners in the area — told the county they did not want the gate on their property.

A county crew completely removed that gate earlier this summer.

In July, Jim Olson of the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association found a new gate had been constructed further up the road. On Monday, Olson said he has traveled to the site to document the new gate two times this summer and was met by people who told him he was on private property and needed to leave.

The sign on the gate reads: “Warning. No trespassing. You quite possibly could get shot or hurt and then try to sue resulting in a long drawn out court battle. You will lose. Because this sign will be: Exhibit A.”

“This shows how extreme these people are,” Olson said. “They have been before the district court twice and the court has twice ruled against them. They have been before the Montana Supreme Court twice and lost and still they persist.”

Burrows said the issue about the new gate has not come before the full commission yet.

“Before we have those discussions, we need to little more background,” he said. “If it’s on a new landowner’s property, it changes the dynamic of the discussion.”

If the sign is located on another person’s property, the county will need to provide notice to the landowner and go through a process to address the issue.

Burrows wasn’t surprised by the tone of the new sign.

“That’s basically been our concern the whole time,” he said. “That’s been the sentiment expressed by the landowners from the beginning … It’s always been about public safety. That sign reinforces that.”

Other than recent concerns expressed about the new gate and sign, Burrows said the commission hasn’t heard anything about Hughes Creek this summer.

“It’s been really quiet,” he said. “If this was a big public access area, it probably would have expedited our process. We are trying to avoid conflict and dotting all our Is and Ts to keep the public safe. It’s not like we have people chomping at the bit to go up there.”

In a statement sent to its membership last week, the Public Land Water Access Association said it has asked county officials for a court order mandating the immediate removal of the gate and sign.

“If such an order is not served or is not heeded, PLWA is ready with further action,” the statement read. “Hughes Creek is a public road granting access to thousands upon thousands of acres of national forest. Gating it is quite simply, illegal.”

The Ravalli Republic was not able to reach the landowners. Burrows said the commission had not heard anything from the landowners who live behind the locked gate.

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