Some internal polling done on Sen. Jon Tester's Forest Bill has supporters of the bill excited that the bill is off to a goodstart in the state.
A poll commissioned by lumber companies and conservation groups that helped craft the bill suggests that seven of every10 Montanans support the bill.
The bill would designate hundreds of thousands of acres of new wilderness, mandate thousands of acres be logged inwestern Montana and create special recreation areas for motorized users.
According to the poll, 65 percent of Montanans who work in mining, ranching and farming support the bill. Also, 69percent of voters from households that "go off-road" on ATVs support the bill, the poll showed.
Polling company Harstad Strategic Research conducted telephone surveys of more than 500 registered voters statewidefrom July 27-29.
Ditch fishing
A new political action group doesn't want people fishing in irrigation ditches.
United Property Owners of Montana has submitted a ballot initiative that would ensure irrigation ditches are not defined as"natural or perennially flowing streams."
"We've had some court decisions in recent years that have muddied the waters, so to speak," said Chuck Denowh, policydirector for the group. "This initiative is designed to give clarity in order to protect the water rights Montanans have alwayshad but are now imperiled due to the ambiguity created by litigation."
Natural or perennially flowing streams are subject to Montana's stream access laws. But a legal battle between musicianHuey Lewis and public access groups showed that defining what is natural or perennially flowing can be difficult. Lewisand other landowners in the Bitterroot Valley said a slough running by their land was man-made, and thus could not befished by the public. But a historic map showing the slough had existed long ago led a judge to rule in favor of accessadvocates.
Denowh says the initiative is needed to make a distinction between irrigation ditches and naturally occurring streams inorder to keep irrigation agriculture viable.
Fishing groups have been quick to denounce the law.
Mark Aagenes, conservation director for Montana Trout Unlimited, told the Lee State Bureau that the law could make water channels that have irrigation features private.
The property owners group said that wasn't the case.
"One of the things we are trying to accomplish is to simply clarify the thing most people already agree on: Recreationalaccess shouldn't apply to irrigation ditches," Denowh said.
-Daniel Person, Chronicle Staff Writer, dperson@dailychronicle.com