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As far as real estate deals go, illegally gating a public road in Montana is about as cheap as it gets.

Under current law, violators risk a fine of only $10 per day to close off public access for their own personal benefit. Yet that paltry fine is never even levied because it would cost the county more to enforce it than the amount of the fine. As a result, bad actors can close off access to public roads with little to no repercussions.

That is a sweetheart deal for those seeking to create exclusionary havens of prime hunting and fishing opportunity, by shutting off public access to public land. Unfortunately, there are some landowners across Montana who are willing do just that, and in doing so they threaten to undermine the rule of law and they put the county’s resources and personnel in jeopardy by ignoring a judge’s declaration regarding their illegally closed county roads.