Protecting Stream and Public Land Access.
East side of the Crazy Mountain Range.
The Crazy Mountains are an isolated mountain range in the Custer Gallatin National Forerst that have been checker-boarded between federal and private owners because of the 1862 Pacific Railway Act. The purpose of the Railway Act was to encourage railroad companies to build a transcontinental railroad that would enable westward settlement. Private landowners now use the checkerboard pattern to deny the public access to their federal lands.
On January 17, 2025, Custer Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Matthew Jedra signed a decision authorizing the East Crazy Inspiration Divide Land Exchange (Crazy Land Swap). The Forest Service has presented the Crazy Land Swap as a solution to this lack of access by swapping and consolidating public and private land. The Forest Service justification is erroneous because the public has always had access to its federal lands behind corners.
The Homestead Act was passed on May 20, 1862 to get American settlers on the land. The Homestead Act mentions “preemption,” which allowed homesteaders to access their homesteads by crossing the corners of land that the federal govenment gave to the railroad company to bring settlers out West. Collectively, these two laws gave citizens the right to the access public land they were homesteading by corner-crossing. Otherwise, homesteaders would have had no other way to access the public land.
The Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) was passed in 1976 and repealed the Homestead Act. At the time of its repeal, the Federal Government retained all the rights that were previously granted to homesteaders under the Homestead Act: “Nothing in this Act, or in any amendment made by this Act, shall be construed as terminating any valid lease, permit, patient, right-of-way, or other land use right or authorization existing on the date of approval of this Act” (FLPMA, Title VII, Sec. 701). Because settlers had a right to cross corners to access federal land they were homesteading under the Homestead Act, the government retained this right when it passed FLPMA.
Cottonwood is currently working to oppose the Crazy Land Swap. We have wrote extensive comments in opposition and are reviewing available legal claims.
The Crazy Mountain land swap is unnecessary because the public has always had the legal right to cross corners. Cottonwood is preparing to challenge the misinterpretation of the law that prohibits corner-crossing.