Champs & Chumps

Stone Creek access is under threat.

With close access to a pile of trails and abundant National Forest land in our back yard, it’s easy to take them for granted. But every year, we’re reminded of how tenuous that access is, when wealthy landowners attempt to block it. These chumps deserve to be called out, along with the champs fighting back on our behalf. This winter, a battle is playing out over access to a popular trailhead just minutes from town. Here’s how things stand.

Chumps
On the chump’s side, the Brask family and their lawyer, Brian Gallik, are trying to block access to the Stone Creek trailhead, the southern starting point of the iconic Bangtail Divide trail. The road, however, is part of a 60-foot-wide easement first established in 1979. In early October, the Brasks filed a complaint with the district court in Butte, claiming that public use of the road is “beyond the scope” of the easement. The Brasks also posit that the original language of the easement allows them to build a gate at the entrance to Stone Creek Road, just off Bridger Canyon Drive. In short, they want to block all public access to the trailhead and erect a huge gate to permanently keep out hikers, bikers, skiers, hunters, trail runners, dog-walkers, and everyone else who enjoys the beautiful, wildlife-rich southern Bangtails. As if 5,600 acres of contiguous land 15 minutes from Bozeman wasn’t enough privacy—not to mention, the Brasks un-enrolled the parcel from Block Management in 2019. It’s unsurprising, perhaps, that this Texas family made its fortune in waste disposal—if only all that equipment could be used to haul them right out of the Bozone.

Champs
Throughout all this Bangtail business, the U.S. Forest Service has been instrumental in maintaining access to Stone Creek. When the Brasks first complained about the public using a public easement to access public land at Stone Creek, the Forest Service explained that parking along the road was an acceptable use of the easement. Now the agency appears ready to fight for it—for us—in court. And if the Brasks want to play dirty, the way so many of these modern-day feudal lords do? Well, we recommend relocating the next problem grizzly deep into the Stone Creek drainage, where there’s ample food right along the road. In any event, we’re fortunate that the predominant land-management agency around here stands up to the selfish super-rich on our behalf—although it must be pointed out that a 1998 land swap, brokered by the Forest Service, is the reason Stone Creek is in jeopardy in the first place. The multi-party deal included Tim Blixseth and—you guessed it—David Brask, and it exchanged public land and access in the Bangtails for private land in the Taylor Fork. So really, this is the least the Forest Service can do. Right those past wrongs, rangers, and stay strong in the face of new ones.