German Gulch Road Summary

ROAD KEPT OPEN

The road, near Fairmount Hot Springs, leading to the Hye Rye Ranger Station and the Mount Haggin Wildlife Area was locked up by a privatge landowner. PLAAI (now “PLWA” ) working with local sporting clubs and the Goetz law firm, supplied the Silver Bow authorities the information necessary to verifying public status of the road. Evidence was overwhelming and no lawsuit was required. Commissioners agreed and the gate and signs were removed.

“The gate’s not locked and the sign says ‘please’ close it, but good manners don’t erase the fact that it spans what some believe is a public road dating back more than a century. ‘We’ve got to do something about it,’ said Tony Schoonen, who lives nearby and also serves as treasurer of the Public Lands/Water Access Association Inc., a state group whose goal is preserving access to public land.

Schoonen’s been after Butte-Silver Bow County since August to force removal of both the sign labeling the road as ‘private’ and the gate, which he believes is a public nuisance and a safety hazard, since it was placed over a cattle guard…

‘We’ve got more information on that road than we’ve had on a lot of cases that we’ve won already,’ he said. These situations are cropping up more and more throughout the state, according to Schoonen.

‘Wealthy people are coming in and don’t pay attention to historic rights of way,’ he said. ‘They put a lock and a gate up and that’s the end of it (unless it’s contested).’ ‘If people are allowed just at their own discretion to block long established rights of way, where will our kids and our grandchildren go to hunt?’ he asked.

The association wants Butte-Silver Bow commissioners to pass a resolution clarifying the status of German Gulch Road as a public right-of-way. ‘That’d prevent this from happening again even if land ownership changes in the future,’ Schoonen said.”