If you haven't guessed by my prior coverage, I'm a big fan of Tread Lightly!, leaving things better than how I found it, and generally not causing much, if any, damage to our public lands and waters. It's why I was so intrigued by Montana Trout Unlimited's work on the Judith River, and it's why whenever I head off into the woods for some much-needed time away from my computer, I come out with more than what I came in with.
Case in point, I went fishing with my family last week, and I think we pulled out about 10 pounds of trash from along the Provo River's banks.
So when I come across fellow powersports users behaving badly, I tend to get righteously pissed-off. After all, we're all judged by the 90/10 rule—i.e. the 10% of users who are jackasses label the other 90%. And this is absolutely the case presented here today, as a Sherp ATV was recently seen driving through the Blackfoot River in Montana, one of the most prized trout streams in the state, and causing damage as the company operating the machine sprayed the river's banks for weeds.
Turns out, not only did they not have the right permit to even enter the river, but it's just a bad practice to begin with.
The video was shot by Kyle Rausch, a Montana fly fishing guide, who said he played "leap-frog" with the Sherp and its operators all day on the River Junction area of the Blackfoot. According to the Instagram post's caption, " This is in the River Junction Hole, apparently spraying weeds. I had the pleasure of playing leap frog with it for a couple of hours. All the weed control businesses I know use boats and rafts. This was tearing up the river so bad we had to wait every time it would cross the river upstream of us due to the mud and moss it was churning up. I would share this and get the word out we don’t want this kind of crap tearing up our river!"
As you'd expect, the video has since gone viral and caught the attention of Montana's state agencies, as well as conservation groups.
Montana Trout Unlimited issued a statement prior to the state agency, saying, "We’ve received multiple messages about a recent video circulating regarding a vehicle driving in the Upper Blackfoot. The group in question were contractors performing weed control for Powell County, but were using the vehicle in the river without a permit. [Montana FWP] is investigating the incident for potential citations and the work has been stopped."
Montana Fish and Wildlife then told our friends at Field & Stream, "The video shows a weed control coordinator contracted by Powell County. Once our fisheries staff was made aware of the video, and after further investigation, they reached out to Powell County to immediately stop the use of a vehicle driving in the river. Staff quickly determined the actions exhibited in the video required a special stream permit, specifically a stream protection act permit 124, which the county did not have."
The agency added, "Simply put, operating a motor vehicle impacting Montana's stream bed should not happen without a permit," the agency said, adding, "We will work with Powell County to ensure weed control is done properly in the future to stress the importance of protecting Montana’s natural resources. We want to thank the public for drawing our attention to this important matter."
But as a reminder, it's all well and good that you can ride, drive, or go through a stream or river with your powersport machine. But it's another thing if you actually should. You need to be cognizant of other public land users, and how they like to enjoy these wild places. Think before you hoon your side-by-side through a river or blaze a new "trail."
Granted, that's technically not the case here, but we have to police our own, especially with all the threats to our public lands we currently face. Be kind to one another, share the trail, and don't be an ass.
