## Facts

- Montana Coalition for Stream Access, Inc., a nonprofit formed to support public river access, sought declaratory relief concerning public recreational use of the Dearborn River as it flowed through land owned or leased by Dennis Michael Curran.
- The Dearborn River runs approximately sixty-six miles from the Continental Divide to the Missouri River in west-central Montana.
- Coalition members used the relevant river segment for recreation, including floating and fishing; Curran attempted to restrict and exclude such use.
- The Coalition and state agencies sought a declaration that (1) the river was subject to public recreational use and (2) the State owned the riverbed (at least between the low-water marks), limiting Curran’s ability to exclude the public.
- Curran counterclaimed for inverse condemnation, asserting that recognition of public access and use rights over what he claimed as private property amounted to an uncompensated taking.
- The district court entered partial summary judgment (certified under Rule 54(b)) declaring that the public may use the waters and streambed up to the high-water mark through Curran’s property and that the State owns the streambed between the low-water marks; it dismissed Curran’s inverse-condemnation counterclaim.
- Curran appealed to the Montana Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether the Dearborn River is subject to public recreational use while flowing through privately owned or leased lands.
2. Whether the State of Montana owns the streambed between the low-water marks and how that ownership affects public access.
3. Whether recognition of public use rights constitutes a compensable taking supporting inverse condemnation.

## Decision

- The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the district court’s partial summary judgment and dismissal of the counterclaim.
- The Court held that the public has a right to use the waters and streambed of the Dearborn River up to the high-water mark as it flows through Curran’s property.
- The Court affirmed that the State owns the streambed between the low-water marks.
- The Court rejected Curran’s inverse-condemnation theory because the asserted right to exclude the public from the river and its bed was not a legally protected property interest under Montana law.

## Legal Principles

- Under Montana law and the public trust doctrine, state surface waters are held for public use, including recreational use.
- A stream’s susceptibility to public use is not limited to commercial navigation; capacity for ordinary recreational use (e.g., floating and fishing) supports public use rights.
- The State’s ownership of the riverbed between the low-water marks supports public use of the watercourse; the public’s use right may extend to the high-water mark for uses reasonably incident to recreation.
- A landowner cannot obtain compensation for a “taking” based on loss of an asserted exclusionary right that never existed as a matter of state law over trust waters and associated use areas.

## Conclusion

The Court confirmed that the public may use a recreationally usable Montana river for activities such as floating and fishing up to the high-water mark, recognized state ownership of the bed between the low-water marks, and held that enforcing these public rights does not create inverse-condemnation liability because no lawful private right to exclude the public was taken.


Mont. Coal. for Stream Access, Inc. v. Curran, 682 P.2d 163 (Mont. 1984)