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SUMMARY: Governor's gambit may or may not work, but make no mistake about the eventual outcome.

Where there's a will, there's always a way. And with public will in Montana so clearly focused on protecting the constitutional right of stream access, you can count on people finding a way to do just that.

One of the higher-profile bills in the 2007 Legislature has been Senate Bill 78, clarifying the public's right to access streams via existing public rights of way at bridges. People already have the right to access streams at public bridges, but some landowners - not all that many, actually - attempt to block access with fences connected to bridge abutments. It's a source of unnecessary conflict, at the least.

SB78 was tabled in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee by Republicans who have difficulty counting - siding with the loud but relatively small Montana Stockgrowers Association over the hundreds of thousands of Montanans and visitors who fish and recreate on rivers and streams.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer turned around last week and use his amendatory veto authority to add stream access language to an unrelated bridge-financing bill that had passed with bipartisan support. This has angered many Republicans and also has raised questions whether the amendments are legally permissible.

Access opponents aren't thinking clearly, though. Schweitzer scores big points with the man and woman on the street, because he's doing whatever it takes to secure their interests. Nobody but grumpy Republicans, a few rich hobby ranchers and maybe some lawyers and a judge will fault him for trying. We sure don't.

And if the governor's clever amendatory veto doesn't work? Well, the public will won't be thwarted. Access advocates can take this issue to court and win. And if that didn't work, they'll find the initiative process a potent weapon.

The stream access issue has the same kind of powerful unifying power we saw in play several years ago with regulation of game farms and banning the use of cyanide in mining. The Legislature rebuffed attempts to address public concerns about game farms and cyanide only to spawn separate initiatives that settled matters once and for all.

No one in Helena should doubt what lies ahead if the people elected to serve the public's will fail to do so on the stream access issue.

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