Two public-access groups filed a lawsuit in Montana this week over corner crossing, one day after Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras told state lawmakers that the practice remains unlawful under Montana property and trespass law.
On May 14, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) and the Public Land & Water Access Association (PLWA) filed suit in Lewis and Clark County District Court. The groups want a court to clarify whether people can legally step from one public parcel to another at a shared corner without touching private land. BHA said the lawsuit seeks to secure access to roughly 871,000 acres of public land in Montana.
Montana does not have a statute specifically stating that corner crossing is illegal. Instead, state officials are relying on broader trespass, property rights, and airspace law to argue that passing through the airspace above a private corner can constitute trespass.
Juras made that case during her May 13 presentation to the Environmental Quality Council. She pointed to private property rights, the right to exclude others, and Montana’s recent drone trespass law.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has also stated that corner crossing remains unlawful in the state.
BHA and PLWA argue that FWP lacks the authority to settle that question through agency guidance. They want a state court to answer it instead.
What Is Corner Crossing?
Corner crossing means moving from one public land parcel to another at the exact point where the parcels touch corners.
The issue usually comes up in checkerboard ownership, where public and private sections alternate across a landscape. A person corner-crossing doesn’t walk across private ground. The legal fight centers on whether passing through the airspace above private corners counts as trespass.
Public-access advocates argue that careful corner crossing respects private property and allows people to reach public land. Landowner groups and state officials argue it violates private property rights.
Public-Access Groups Say FWP Overstepped
BHA and PLWA said they filed the lawsuit after years of uncertainty over how Montana handles corner crossing.
The groups said Montanans have corner-crossed for generations without being found guilty of trespass. They also said FWP wardens had long been instructed not to issue citations for people who accessed public lands this way.
However, BHA and PLWA argue that FWP recently changed course by declaring corner crossing unlawful and directing wardens to treat those cases as potential violations. The groups argue that the stance exceeds the agency’s authority.
“It doesn’t matter what side of the barbed wire, or political aisle you stand on, we are all public land owners with a vested interest in our public lands,” BHA President and CEO Ryan Callaghan said in the group’s release. “Corner crossing while respecting private property is a practical ‘middle ground’ that the vast majority of Montanans support. Shutting the public out of 871,000 acres of public lands is not.”
BHA and PLWA don’t claim people should be allowed to cross private land. They argue that a shared survey corner shouldn’t block access from one piece of public land to another.
The State Says Airspace Is the Issue
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has taken the opposite stance.
In November 2025, FWP Director Christy Clark said corner crossing remains unlawful in Montana. She said Montanans should get permission from adjoining landowners before crossing between public parcels.
“Wardens will continue to report corner crossing cases to local county attorneys to exercise their prosecutorial discretion,” Clark said in the agency’s statement.
Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras presented the state’s argument to the Montana Environmental Quality Council on May 13. Her presentation focused on private property rights, trespass law, and whether corner crossing passes through privately controlled airspace.
Juras pointed to Montana law stating that a landowner has the right to the surface and to anything permanently situated above or below it. Her presentation described that concept as the “heaven to hell” doctrine.
“In 2025, you, the Montana Legislature, enacted a law establishing a criminal trespass to fly a drone under 200 feet,” Juras said. “You have recognized a buffer zone of at least 200 feet as being the private property of the surface owner.”
That drone law has now become part of the corner-crossing debate. Juras used it to argue that Montana has already recognized low-level airspace as part of private property.
In response to a lawmaker’s question about corner crossing to reach state land, Juras said Montana law is clear.
“I think the law is absolutely clear in Montana: the owner has the right to the surface and the airspace above it,” Juras said. “Do you want someone hovering over your backyard with a drone, looking at whatever your kids are doing out in the backyard? That’s why this Legislature clarified, at least to the use of drones, it is a trespass up to 200 feet of your airspace.”
No Montana statute specifically names corner crossing as illegal. The state’s argument depends on how courts interpret broader trespass, property, and airspace laws when someone moves from public land to public land at a shared corner.
The Wyoming Case Doesn’t Settle Montana Law
The Montana lawsuit follows a major Wyoming corner-crossing case involving Iron Bar Holdings and four hunters.
In March 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled in favor of the hunters, who corner-crossed in Wyoming without touching private land. The court held that Iron Bar Holdings couldn’t block access to federal public land when the hunters crossed corners without physically touching the ranch’s land.
The U.S. Supreme Court later declined to hear Iron Bar’s appeal, which left that ruling in place.
However, Montana falls under the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, not the Tenth. The Tenth Circuit ruling directly applies only in Tenth Circuit states, including Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
In Montana, the Wyoming ruling may influence the debate, but it doesn’t settle state law.
Juras made that point during the EQC discussion. She also said the Supreme Court’s refusal to take the Wyoming case shouldn’t be treated as an endorsement of the Tenth Circuit ruling.
“What they like to see are cases where more than one circuit court has come down with an opinion, and there are conflicting opinions,” Juras said. “They want this to percolate a little longer at the circuit-court level before they’re going to take it up at the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Montana doesn’t have a controlling corner-crossing case that answers the question directly. That’s the gap this lawsuit asks a state court to address.
What’s at Stake for Public Access
For hunters, anglers, hikers, and other public-land users, the lawsuit could become one of Montana’s most significant access cases in years.
If the court sides with BHA and PLWA, corner crossing could open practical access to large blocks of public land currently blocked by shared private corners. If the state prevails, Montana’s current stance could remain in place, and permission from adjacent landowners would remain the safest route.
The lawsuit doesn’t change FWP’s current public guidance. Until a court rules otherwise, the agency says corner crossing remains unlawful, and wardens may refer cases to county attorneys.
Montana has no statute that specifically says corner crossing is illegal, and it has no controlling state case that settles the question. With roughly 871,000 acres of corner-locked public land at issue, this lawsuit could finally give Montana a court ruling on whether people can step from one piece of public land to another at a shared corner without touching private land.
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