Stonewall Road easement issue resolved

A public access easement agreement approved by the Lewis and Clark County Commission during the Feb. 5 Lincoln Government Day brought an end to questions about access to National Forest land using Stonewall Creek Road.

Concerns about use of the road emerged in 2018 following the installation of two gates on the road where they crossed onto private property in the Parlin Park area three and a half miles northwest of Lincoln.

Crystal Ness, the county development services supervisor, told the commissioners landowner Mike Stahly had fenced his property and installed the gates to keep out the cattle that graze on adjacent leased State and Forest Service land. Under the terms of the easement, Lewis and Clark County will install two cattle guards on Stonewall Creek Road where it crosses Stahly's property boundary.

Though Stahly didn't block access to the National Forest through his property - the gates were unlocked and accompanied by signs requesting road users to keep them closed - the road had been used for more than a century to access the Stonewall Creek area and their presence prompted questions about easement issues.

The gates were brought to the attention of both the Forest Service and Lewis and Clark county shortly after they were installed due to concerns by neighbors that they created an impediment to recreational use of the forest, particularly in the winter when deep snow and a lack of plowing could prevent the gates from being opened to allow snowmobile access. Former Lincoln District Ranger Michael Stansberry noted at the time that the gates could also be perceived as blocked access by people unfamiliar with the area.

One of the issues surrounding the easement question involved determining who was responsible for the road itself.

Ness explained that Stonewall Creek Road was first petitioned in 1902 up to what is now the southern boundary of the Stahly property. The road crosses state land before reaching the Stahly property, then exits onto National Forest land after about 300 yards.

She said the county has worked with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service to clarify and clear up the county's easements through government property in the Lincoln area.

Despite the roads use as an access to the National Forest, Ness said she couldn't find any historical documents related to the road north of Stahly's southern property boundary.

"He was well within his private property rights to go ahead and put a gate on that road," she said. "And through negotiations we've come up with an agreement to make this road public and install the cattleguards."

Under the terms of the easement, maintenance of the cattle guards will fall to the county, although any county maintenance work on the road through the private property would require Stahly's permission.

Since easement and access issues have historically been thorny issues, often leading to expensive litigation, the county worked with Stahly and the Lincoln Ranger District to find a solution that didn't involve the courts. Commissioner Jim McCormick said the dispute was his first introduction to the road issue there.

"To come to this agreeable solution, that's a good thing," he said. "When we have positive, good outcomes it's because people talk and find that common ground and that solution space, and that's what happened here."

"It seems like road and land use issues are the ones that are the most complicated and take the most to resolve," added Commission Chair Andy Hunthausen.