Hughes Creek Road Summary

After over a decade of work and two Supreme Court rulings in 2019 upholding the public status of the road, the illegal gate blocking public access on the Hughes Creek county road in Ravalli County was removed in January of 2021. It seemed like a big win for the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association, PLWA, Goetz Law Firm, and public access supporters across the state. And yet, as of May 2021 PLWA received word that the gate was up again. Swift action by PLWA and our PLWA Partner organization Ravalli County Fish & Wildlife Association brought the gate down in June, but by July we received notice of a new gate and signage.

A detailed chronology of the Hughes Creek Road case is available below, but here are the basics: A gate blocked access to public lands on a county road for over 40 years. An abundance of factual evidence and multiple court rulings verified the illegality of this gate blocking public access. Yet the gate remained.

Since 2016, PLWA, in partnership with the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association and legal assistance from the Goetz law firm, worked together to compel the Ravalli County Commission to fulfill their legal obligation to remove the gate. Gate removal seemed guaranteed in 2019 following two Montana Supreme Court decisions upholding that the Hughes Creek Road was a public highway, and that the gate illegally blocked public access. Despite these Supreme Court rulings, the Ravalli County Commission waffled on its position regarding gate removal and failed to act to remove the gate.

In 2020, PLWA and the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association worked with PLWA’s legal team at the Goetz Law firm on next steps to obtain gate removal. The first of those next steps entailed an October 2020 legal request in the form of a letter from our legal team to the Ravalli County Commissioners to remove the illegal gate without further delay.

That letter summarized the factual record and multiple court rulings recognizing the public status of the Hughes Creek Road. It also indicated the next recourse PLWA and the Association will take if the Commission failed to fulfill its legal obligation to remove the gate. Unfortunately, the Commission maintained its reluctance to pursue needed actions, citing safety concerns. In January 2021, PLWA and the Ravalli County Fish & Wildlife Association issued a letter to Governor Gianforte and Attorney General Knudsen requesting intervention and re-opening of the road. The gate was removed less than a week later. For much of the spring it seemed like the issue was resolved, finally. Yet, during a Senate Judiciary Hearing as Executive Director Hanes testified in favor of Senate Bill 256 to increase penalties for illegal gating of roadways, Representative Manzella mentioned that that landowners were not satisfied with the multiple court decisions declaring the roadway public, and that in her opinion, local government was “unclear” on its status.

Further gating of the public road continued throughout 2021, causing PLWA to file a mandamus complaint to move the County to action in removing the multiple obstructions blocking public access after cooperative talks failed to yield results. The obstructions were finally removed on December 31, 2021, the last day of the legal extension.

The Hughes Creek Road access dispute represents an important precedent setting complaint, and PLWA is tenacious when the law is clear. President Bernard Lea reiterates PLWA’s perseverance in this case and others like it: “The long road to restore public access along the Hughes Creek Road has been one of many twists, turns, starts, and stops, but we were in it for the long-haul, with the law, the facts, and a great legal team guiding our way.”

UPDATE: February, 2022

District Judge Leslie Halligan issued her reply to the County’s Motion to Dismiss with an Order Granting the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. PLWA has reviewed the decision, and the road remains open.

The opinion is available here.

UPDATE 2: January, 2022

The landowner involved with the Hughes Creek Road has removed the excavator blocking Hughes Creek Road access. While he does not believe that the road is public and disagrees with the two court decisions declaring it a county road, for the time being the road is clear.

There have been no formal citations by Ravalli County officials, nor any agreements regarding prevention of future obstructions. Currently PLWA awaits judgement on the County’s Reply Brief regarding PLWA’s Response to the Motion to Dismiss lodged at the end of December.

PLWA is encouraged that the obstruction is removed, but concerned that it took 6 months for obstructions to be cleared when the MCA requires immediate removal, and that no citations or penalties were levied against the offending landowner, and that there does not seem to be a plan in place to prevent further access issues. In light of the fact that these three infractions took over six months to resolve, seemingly only under duress through the legal action taken by PLWA and after two Montana court decisions declaring the road public, PLWA and the public will continue to monitor the situation with interest. We will communicate the decision from the Montana judiciary when received.

The Ravalli Republic’s article regarding this latest development is available below.

The County’s Reply Brief in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is available here.

UPDATE 1: January, 2022

On Friday January 14th, PLWA filed documents in response to the Motion to Dismiss. They can be found below, and assert that Ravalli County not only has a duty to remove obstructions in public roadways leading to public lands immediately, but that they also have a duty to prevent such obstructions and illegal behavior from recurring. This requirement has not been met, and the County has not used any of the tools at their disposal to discourage the landowners on Hughes Creek Road from repeating offenses. Their public commentary stating that they think the public land of the Bitterroot National Forest and the Bitterroot Selway Wilderness isn’t what they consider worthwhile for access only further demonstrates a disregard for both the law, and access in general.

2022-01-13 Brief in Opposition to Def. Mot. to Dismiss

2022-01-12 Declaration of Drewry Hanes

UPDATE 2: December, 2021

Without notice, and on the last day of the extension offered to the Ravalli County Commission, the Commission chose to file a Motion to Dismiss the Mandamus Action filed by PLWA, citing that they had satisfied all the requirements set forth by the action.

Unfortunately, as the landowner placed a large excavator in the middle of the road obstructing passage, and has continued to obstruct passage again and again without penalty, PLWA does not feel that the criteria has been met. We were also disappointed that no dialogue occurred before action was taken, especially as PLWA has met all requests for multiple extensions by the county in food faith up to this point.

No PLWA is required to respond, and will be filing our response in the coming weeks.

UPDATE 1: December, 2021

As PLWA and members of the public await action by Ravalli County, and the gate and obstructions remain, the Daily Montanan offers up these thoughts on the situation.

UPDATE: November, 2021

The Ravalli County Attorney requested an extension in the mandamus action in order to have time to further discuss the issue at hand with County Commissioners and decide on a plan of action. Due to the fact that the County reserved the right to also petition the judge for an extension, and PLWA would like to allow for every opportunity for Ravalli County officials to serve the public interest as quickly as possible, PLWA agreed to the extension.

Extension documents are available here and here.

UPDATE 2: October, 2021

PLWA Has Taken Legal Action on Hughes Creek

On the morning of October 22nd, 2021, PLWA filed a complaint for declaratory judgement & petition for alternative writ of mandamus in the Montana twenty first judicial district court against Ravalli County and the Board of Ravalli County Commissioners. This step was taken as a last resort after months of efforts to work with the County to get Hughes Creek Road opened, a road that has been twice declared legally public by the State of Montana.

Montana State Law directs County Officials that illegal gates and obstructions on County Roads must be removed immediately. By any stretch of the imagination, immediately certainly means less than three months. This represents the second time a gate has languished on Hughes Creek Road.

PLWA believes firmly in the obligation of officials to serve the public and protect access to our public lands and waters, treating private and public land rights equally. In the time since our letter requesting that the gate and obstructions be removed by October 16th, 2021, numerous additional signs have been added to the gate, the gate and obstructions have not been removed, and County Officials have stated that they do not see why this is a matter of public interest at all. They continue to maintain that any plans to remove the gate, and dates regarding when that will happen are not the public's nor PLWA's concern or business.

The National Forest trail that lies beyond the locked gate leads to the Bitterroot National Forest, the Salmon National Forest, and thousands of acres of recreation. Montanans deserve access to their public lands and waters, and for their public officials to enforce laws and protect our rights. We await action by the County.

Read the filing documents here:

• Hughes Creek Complaint

• Brief in Support of Writ of Mandamus Petition

• Declaration of Jim Olson

• Summons - Commissioners

• Summons - Ravalli County

• Praecipe to Clerk

UPDATE 1: October, 2021

The Deputy Ravalli County Attorney responded to PLWA’s attorney by stating that the county “would not be providing you, nor anyone else, the details of the process nor the timeline for completion” on removing gates and the felled trees blocking the public county road at Hughes Creek. In essence, the county officials are shedding no light on any plans to remove the illegal gates or open the road to the public, allowing access recreation in the Bitterroot National Forest.

View the letter here.

Read the article in the Ravalli Republic here.

UPDATE: September, 2021

Multiple attempts by PLWA attorney Kyle Nelson and local Ravalli County advocates to assess action to remove the gate at Hughes Creek have yielded no action. Beyond the current illegal gate on Hughes Creek Road there is photographic evidence that the private landowner has felled trees across the county road to further encumber public access beyond the gate, while creating a private road across private property for personal access. Currently, even if one were able to bypass the illegal gate, progress would be impossible due to the trees felled across the road, creating not one but two illegal obstructions.

PLWA urged our attorney to speak with Ravalli County’s legal representatives multiple times, and he has been told only that the issue is being “investigated” and that there are plans that they wish to keep secret, plans that the public will not be made aware of. They state that in their own time, they plan to address the situation and will do so as they see fit. PLWA requested to work with the County Officials to see the road open, but maintained that per MCA, §§ 7-14-2133 and 7-14-2134 obstructions must be removed “immediately”, and over two months does not meet the definition of immediately. With no clarity or explanation of plans or any evidence of a move to remove obstructions forthcoming after multiple attempts to parlay with the County, PLWA issued the following letter on September 21st giving the Ravalli County Board of Commissioners until October 16th to remove the illegal obstructions, more than three months since they were notified of them and certainly enough time to do so.

PLWA awaits a response to the letter, and hopes that the public trust is satisfied with the response coming in the form of the removal of the gate and obstructions on the public’s road in Ravalli County.

UPDATE: August, 2021

After speaking with RCFWA, the local Sheriff’s office, and County officials, PLWA has requested a court order demanding immediate removal of the illegal gate on Hughes Creek, a road which has been twice declared public by the courts of Montana. We expect this court order to be served in August 2021. Should the order not be served or should it be served and ignored, PLWA stands ready with further action to have the road opened. Blocking public access on a recorded and legally declared public road and threatening the public with harm should they exercise their rights to access their public lands is intolerable, and PLWA will see the Hughes Creek public access issue through to the end.

UPDATE: June, 2021

PLWA is consulting with our legal team and the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association on Hughes Creek Road. The law is clear on this case, and PLWA will be announcing our action on the issue soon. Subscribe to our Newsletter to stay informed or return here for updates. If you are local to the area and have information you would like to share that you believe would be helpful, reach out here.

HISTORY OF THE ISSUE

For over 30 years, the residents of Hughes Creek County Road, in Ravalli County, enjoyed exclusive access to thousands of acres of our public lands. That ended on January 25, 2017.

On January 25, 2017, the Ravalli County Commission voted to reject a landowner petition to abandon a portion of Hughes Creek County Road. Following the majority vote to reject the petition, the Ravalli Commissioners finally had to deal with the illegal gate that had obstructed the public from their lands, which previous commissions has simply ignored, in what was described as a “kicking the can down the road” situation. The grueling meeting lasted about 4 ½ hours, hearing landowners desperately try to claim their right to privatization.. Public lands advocates who succinctly and specifically advocated for the public’s rights and the law were: Dave Campbell, retired USFS District Ranger from that area; Jim Olson for Ravalli County Fish & Wildlife, also a PLWA member; USFS District Ranger Ryan Domsalla and PLWA attorney, Kyle Nelson, from the Goetz, Baldwin & Geddes law firm. Like a wrestling tag team, each member calmly hammered the facts and law before the reluctant county commissioners who seemed unaware of the “legal significance of a public highway created by statutory petition”, as well as it’s 60-foot right-of-way as a matter of law. The Hughes Creek Road beyond the illegal gate “meanders into public land at several locations, and with the 60-foot right-of-way it stretches into public land (and potentially waters) at several other locations”.

Campbell stated this was not denying access to Forest Service property, it was denying access to public property, owned by the citizens of the United States. In reference to the fact that the road was not used that much, Olson drove home the fact, “…no use, it’s pretty hard to use a public road that’s got an illegal gate on it”. Ryan Domsalla reiterated that as the stewards of tens of thousands of acres of public’s lands, they had standing in this matter. He then began to list the many historic, as well as current, recreational and commercial activities, currently being denied to the public.

PLWA submitted a number of letters to the Ravalli County Commissioners with no written response. PLWA’s attorney also mailed and called Montana Attorney General, Tim Fox, for intervention, with no response. Under MCA 2-15-501 (5), the MT AG has the authority, “to exercise supervisory powers over county attorneys in all matters pertaining to the duties of their offices and from time to time require of them reports as to the condition of public business entrusted to their charge. The supervisory powers granted to the attorney general by this subsection include the power to order and direct county attorneys in all matters pertaining to the duties of their office. The county attorney shall, when ordered or directed by the attorney general, promptly institute and diligently prosecute in the proper court and in the name of the state of Montana any criminal or civil action or special proceeding.”

The Ravalli County Commissioners, preferring not to deny the private landowners petition for abandonment, were forced to abide by the law. In a split vote, 3 to 2, the Commissioners denied the abandonment petition.

Since Hughes Creek Road is a public access county road, the Commissioners then had to deal with the illegal gate that has blocked public access for about 30 years. After some debate, PLWA Attorney Kyle Nelson again took to the podium to point out the law, MCA 7-14-2135, pointing out that the statute clearly stated the “Notice to remove the encroachment” was “immediately”. Baldwin added, “I think it is reasonable to give the landowners some time to sort out the kind of windy nature of the private-public land intersection.” Despite the law, the Ravalli County Commissioners unanimously voted to give the landowners 120 days to prepare and post signage on private property.

Jan. 25, 2017, The Ravalli County Commission voted to reject a landowner petition to abandon a portion of Hughes Creek County Road. Following the majority vote to reject the petition, the Ravalli Commissioners finally had to deal with the illegal gate that had obstructed the public from their lands, which previous commissions has simply ignored, in what was described as a “kicking the can down the road” situation. The gruelling meeting lasted about 4 ½ hours, hearing landowners desperately try to claim their right to privatization.

April 2017, two Hughes Creek Road families filed suit in Ravalli County District Court in April, seeking to keep the county from forcing them to remove the gate across Hughes Creek Road.

July 20, 2017, “Residents involved in the Hughes Creek Road dispute are asking the Montana Supreme Court to intervene in the dismissal of a lawsuit they filed in an attempt to keep a gate in place that prohibits public use of the road. The move comes less than one week after the Ravalli County Commission sent a letter to Suzanne Raski and Michael Mikolaichik, who own the land on which the gate sits. In the letter, the commission said the couple needed to remove the gate by Aug. 1. If they did, the county said it wouldn’t seek repayment of costs or fines from them or other landowners.”

Aug. 2017, the gate across Hughes Creek Road remained in place after the families who live beyond the closed area successfully sought a temporary restraining order prohibiting its removal.

Aug. 18, 2017, “A hearing scheduled for last Monday on the removal of the gate across Hughes Creek Road was postponed indefinitely at the request of the Ravalli County Attorney’s office. According to documents filed in Ravalli District Court, the county believes that the court can hold just one hearing, instead of two, on a lawsuit and a temporary restraining order that bars the county from removing the gate or fining the landowner if it’s not removed. Instead of having a hearing on the restraining order and another on the lawsuit itself, the county wants to tackle the matters together. ‘We are preparing our response so we can do everything in one fell swoop,’ said Deputy County Attorney Daniel Browder. ‘We expect to have something filed by the middle of September.’ “

Oct. 12, 2017, The attorney for the landowners filed part of his brief in the form of a theatrical play.

The Hughes Creek Case is available here.

A video of the hearing is available here.