He's tired of cars careening down the narrow country road at 60 mph. He's tired of vehicles blocking his gates. He's tired of the late-night parties. He's tired of people yelling at him. And he's tired of cleaning up strangers' messes.
A few weeks ago, Saunders and his neighbor, Ted Franklin, printed out a couple of no trespassing signs and gathered up some rope, orange tape and a pair of wooden stands. Without much ceremony, the two blocked off access to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks fishing access site called Poker Joe on the Bitterroot River.
“We're just tired of it, and we've decided we're going to put a stop to it,” Saunders said. “That's all there is to it.”
The neighbors say they've endured years of abusive behavior from a growing legion of people looking to enjoy the fishing access site near Florence.
When the state purchased the 10-acre Poker Joe fishing access in 1973, it was probably a rare day when more than a car or two eased down Simpson Lane to take advantage of the access to the Bitterroot River.
FWP advertises the site as undeveloped. There's room for two, maybe three cars along the edge of the state-owned property. There's no bathroom, no trash cans. It's a bit of a walk along a well-worn trail to get to the river's edge.
The property is shaped like a wedge, with its narrowest portion bordering the end of Simpson Lane.
“It really never was much of a fishing access site,” Saunders said, pointing at some large FWP signs that describe the access site just a few yards past the end of the road. “Those signs were on Ted's property until a few months ago. We asked fish and game to move them.”
Many of the fence posts bordering both sides of the road along the neighbors' properties are marked with no trespassing signs. Saunders said that doesn't deter people. On most hot summer days, there are cars parked all the way back to the bridge.
“In the summertime, we see between 30 and 90 cars down here a day,” he said. “It's solid cars from here all the way back to the bridge. I can't get through my gates. Ted can't even go out and have a barbecue with his family without being harassed.”
“People just aren't respectful,” Saunders said. “We've asked for some help to control the traffic, but no one ever shows up. We've been forced to revert back to the Old West, to the days of the vigilante. We have to keep them out ourselves.”
The neighbors don't believe the state has an easement that grants the general public access to the site. Saunders and others have spent hours investigating public records and haven't been able to find any evidence one exists. So far, FWP hasn't been able to produce the paperwork either.
The way the neighbors see it: FWP employees can come and go as they like, but the general public doesn't have the right to access their private road.
“We're not trying to keep the fish and game out,” he said. “We only want to keep the public out.”
Mack Long, FWP's regional supervisor, isn't about to let that stand.
“I think we'll probably end up finding a legal remedy for this situation,” Long said.
Long hopes it doesn't come to that. He said the department listened to the neighbors' concerns and started to respond. This summer, a portable bathroom was put on the site for a spell and garbage cans were set up. A seasonal caretaker was kept on the payroll longer than normal.
“We're willing to do some more,” Long said. “The bottom line is that we're not going to give up on this fishing access site.”
Things like dust abatement, a better parking arrangement, and maybe signs at the highway that discourage people driving large recreational vehicles from exploration are open for discussion, he said.
“We're not going to spend any huge amounts of money until we get this thing settled,” Long said. “We're willing to do what we can, but our goal is also to maintain public access at the site.”
Montana's 300-plus fishing access sites are becoming popular not only for anglers, but also for floaters, tubers, picnickers and partiers.
“They're public sites where people do just about everything under the sun,” said Allan Kuser, FWP's fishing access site coordinator. “They were designed for anglers, but they're becoming very popular with a wide segment of the population.”
Visitation to the sites has more than doubled since 1988 when about 1.7 million people took advantage of the areas. In the summer of 2005, more than 4 million people visited the sites.
Adjoining landowners aren't always happy to see more people showing up next door.
“Conflicts with adjacent landowners to fishing access sites do happen occasionally,” Kuser said. “We do what we can to help resolve those.”
Unlike many state parks, fishing access sites aren't manned. That lack of management can breed anger and discontent.
“We can't always control people,” he said. “We do want to help adjoining landowners where we can.”
For instance, Kuser said FWP anted up $10,000 to pay for the new bridge on Simpson Lane just up the road from the Poker Joe fishing access site.
That's the same bridge that's now blocked by no trespassing signs, a rope and orange tape.
“We know we need to do something more to help alleviate some of the concerns those people have,” he said. “We're going to do what we can to work with them.”
In the meantime, the area remains closed.
To Saunders, it's simply a matter of “enough is enough. We're not bad people. Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you that. We're just tired of being pushed around.
“People are afraid to fight the government. I don't understand that. We are the government.”
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