BILLINGS (AP)
Members of a land access group say two landowners in Blaine County have no authority to limit access on a road that crosses their property to reach thousands of acres of rugged public land. At issue is the route known as the Bullwhacker Road, which provides access to 50,000 acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The Public Lands Access Association Inc., a small group based in Billings, claims the Bullwhacker Road is a public route under a law enacted in 1866. But the road travels through an island of 3.8 miles of private land owned by Bill and Ronnie Robinson of Lloyd. They have controlled access to the road in the past by requiring verbal or written permission to cross their land. Right now, there’s a sign-in box near the gate where people must fill in permission slips to access the Robinsons’ property. A note in the box denies access when the road is wet. “The road was never closed,” Ronnie Robinson said. “We have never denied access to the public. The only time was if someone was out of hand or had unacceptable behavior or the road was too wet.” Robinson said she and her husband began requiring permission a few years ago after someone vandalized a gate and cabin and others drove off the main road. “It just got to the point where it got too out of control,” she said. But she notes that in the past two years, nearly 1,000 people have been granted permission to cross their land to reach the BLM acreage. But the Public Lands Access Association Inc. contends the Robinsons don’t have authority to require permission. Invoking a law enacted in 1866, known as Revised Statute 2477, the PLAAI has documented that the road existed as far back as 1917, based on a General Land Office map. The group’s records show that the earliest land patent filed for acreage now owned by the Robinsons was 1926. Patents were how people filed for land ownership under the Homestead Act, used to settle the West in the late 1800s and early 1900s. “If the road existed prior to the land being patented, it’s a public road,” said Bernard Lea, a PLAAI director. “According to the law, they have to accept that fact.” The PLAAI gave a copy of all of its documentation to the Blaine County Commission in June. But according to County Commissioner Art Kleinjan, County Attorney Yvonne Laird didn’t want to take on the issue since her term in office is over at the end of the year. “We’ve got to have somebody tell us whether that’s a county road or not,” Kleinjan said. “If we can’t get something decided, we’ll have to look for a way around.” The Public Lands Access Association has said it will give the county until the first of the year to declare the road a public right of way. “If they don’t do anything by the first of the year, we’ll have to file a court action,” Lea said. The BLM has attempted to purchase an easement across the Robinsons’ land and offered to fence the route to prevent off-road travel, but the Robinsons declined, according to Gary Slagel, manager of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. “From a BLM standpoint, it’s a road on private land and we have no authority on private land,” Slagel said. “The county would have to assert that it’s a county road.”
