State of Montana Newsroom
Superintendent Arntzen Protects Private Property Rights
HELENA - Land Board Commissioner and State Superintendent Elsie Arntzen voted to protect private property rights during the State Land Board meeting on May 20, 2024. The Superintendent supported the motion to require Land Board approval of any legal claims of private water rights by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC). Beginning in 1996, the Land Board authorized the DNRC to manage decisions regarding private water rights used during state trust land leases for livestock grazing and growing crops.
“Private property rights are enshrined in our state and national constitutions,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “Our Montana farmers and ranchers have been hung out to dry by the heavy hand of bureaucracy. During my time as a citizen legislator, Land Board Commissioner, and State Superintendent, I have fought to shrink government regulations and grow transparency for all Montanans and will continue to do so.”
During the 2019 legislative session, HB 286, authored by Representative and rancher Alan Redfield, revised water rights in connection to state land leases stating that “the state may not obtain an ownership interest in a water right or the groundwater development works of a water right that is diverted from a well or developed spring located on private land exclusively based on trustee obligations for state trust land.”
All state trust lands are managed by the DNRC Trust Lands Management Division and benefit public schools through the sale of timber, surface, and mineral resources. When Montana became a state in 1889, the Enabling Act set aside a vast number of lands that support Common Schools. Today, the State manages 5.2 million surface acres and 6.2 million mineral acres in state trust lands that benefit Montana’s Common Schools.
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