Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 77. STATE LANDS

CHAPTER 6. AGRICULTURAL, GRAZING, AND OTHER SURFACE LEASES

Part 1. General Provisions

Lease Conditions -- Cancellation

77-6-113. Lease conditions -- cancellation. (1) It is a condition of all leases of agricultural or grazing state lands that:

(a) in the case of agricultural lands, the lessee shall observe the ordinary rules for good management of agricultural lands and shall handle the leased land with the view of maintaining its productivity and minimizing wind and soil erosion and noxious weeds and planting crops with a view of securing the greatest yields of good quality; and

(b) in the case of grazing lands, the lessee shall observe the ordinary rules for good range management and shall manipulate the numbers, class, distribution, and season of the range use and the handling, feeding, breeding, and marketing of grazing livestock with a view of securing the production of the maximum of livestock and livestock products, consistent with the conservation of the land resources and the perpetuation of its productivity, and to these ends the state land lease may not be abused by overgrazing.

(2) For the gross violation of any of these rules, the lease involved must be canceled by the department, subject to the appeal procedure provided in 77-6-211.

(3) This section may not be construed to interfere with the right of the owner of property adjacent to a navigable river or stream to control noxious weeds on the land adjacent to the navigable river or stream.

History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 207, L. 1945; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 254, L. 1947; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 27, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 18, Ch. 428, L. 1973; R.C.M. 1947, 81-415; amd. Sec. 12, Ch. 472, L. 2009.