Montana Code Annotated 2021

TITLE 23. PARKS, RECREATION, SPORTS, AND GAMBLING

CHAPTER 2. RECREATION

Part 3. Recreational Use of Streams

Prescriptive Easement Not Acquired By Recreational Use Of Surface Waters

23-2-322. Prescriptive easement not acquired by recreational use of surface waters. (1) A prescriptive easement is a right to use the property of another that is acquired by open, exclusive, notorious, hostile, adverse, continuous, and uninterrupted use for a period of 5 years.

(2) A prescriptive easement cannot be acquired through:

(a) recreational use of surface waters, including:

(i) the streambeds underlying them;

(ii) the banks up to the ordinary high-water mark; or

(iii) any portage over and around barriers; or

(b) the entering or crossing of private property to reach surface waters.

History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 556, L. 1985.