Mont. Admin. r. 36.25.145 - DEFINITIONS

Wherever used in ARM 36.25.143 through ARM 36.25.162, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:

(1) "Affidavit" means a signed statement, the truth of which has been sworn to or affirmed before a notary public, as evidenced by the signature and seal of the notary public.

(2) "Board" means the board of land commissioners provided for in Article X, section 4 of the Montana Constitution.

(3) "Closure" means prohibition of all general recreational use.

(4) "Customary access point" means, with regard to state land, each outer gate and each normal point of access to the land, including both sides of a water body crossing the property wherever the water body intersects an outer boundary line.

(5) "Dedicated county road" means a county road that has been created by means of donation of a landowner and acceptance by a county under statutory or common law dedication procedures.

(6) "Dedicated public road" means a road useable by the public under state or federal law. The term includes dedicated county roads.

(7) "Department" means the department of natural resources and conservation provided for in Title 2, chapter 15, part 32, MCA.

(8) "Director" means the director of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. The director is the chief administrative officer of the department.

(9) "Drop box" means a receptacle in which a person making general recreational use of state lands may leave notice required pursuant to ARM 36.25.155 or ARM 36.25.156.

(10) "Emergency" means, for the purposes of ARM 36.25.152, a situation that:

(a) creates an imminent threat to personal safety or of significant property damage or significant environmental harm;

(b) would be substantially lessened or alleviated by closure to general recreational access of a state tract; and

(c) requires closure more expeditiously than could be implemented through the normal closure procedure.

(11) "General recreational use" means non-concentrated, non-commercial recreational activity, except:

(a) collection, disturbance, alteration, or removal of archeological, historical, or paleontological sites or specimens (e.g., fossils, dinosaur bones, arrowheads, old buildings, including siding) (which requires an antiquities permit pursuant to 22-3-432, MCA);

(b) mineral exploration, development, or mining (which requires a lease or license pursuant to Title 77, chapter 3, MCA);

(c) collection of valuable rocks or minerals (which requires a lease or license pursuant to Title 77, chapter 3, MCA);

(d) cutting or gathering of standing or downed trees (for which the department conducts sales pursuant to Title 77, chapter 5, MCA, and issues licenses pursuant to ARM 36.25.136); and

(e) trapping.

(12) "Growing crop" means a crop, as defined below, between the time of planting and harvest. "Crop" means such products of the soil as are planted and intended for harvest, including but not limited to cereals and vegetables and including grass and alfalfa that are intended for harvest for hay or seed production. The term does not include grass used for pasturage or trees.

(13) "Lease" means a lease or land use license, other than a recreational use or special recreational use license, issued by the department for use of the surface of the land. The term does not include a mineral lease unless it is preceded by the word "mineral."

(14) "Lessee" means a person who holds a lease as that term is defined in (13).

(15) "Legally accessible state lands" means state lands that can be accessed by dedicated public road, public right-of-way, or public easement; by public waters such as lakes, rivers, and streams that are recreationally navigable under 23-2-302, MCA; by adjacent federal, state, county, or municipal land if the land is open to public use; or by adjacent private land if permission to cross the land has been secured from the landowner. Accessibility by aircraft does not render lands legally accessible under this definition. The granting of permission by a private landowner to cross private property in a particular instance does not subject the state land that is accessed to general recreational use by members of the public other than those granted permission.

(16) "Livestock" means cattle, sheep, swine, goats, privately owned bison and elk, horses, llamas, mules, donkeys, and other animals used for the protection of these animals.

(17) "Motorized vehicle" means a vehicle propelled by motor power, including, but not limited to, an automobile, truck, motorcycle, moped, and an all terrain vehicle but excluding a snowmobile.

(18) "Recreational use license" means the license issued pursuant to ARM 36.25.146 that authorizes a person to engage in general recreational use as defined in (11).

(19) "Recreational use advisory council" means the advisory council created pursuant to ARM 36.25.154.

(20) "Restriction" means a limitation on the manner in which recreational use may be conducted.

(21) "Special recreational use" means:

(a) commercial recreational activities, such as outfitting, in which a private person, corporation, group, or other entity charges a fee or obtains other consideration;

(b) non-commercial recreational activities conducted by an organization, such as a lodge, business, church, union, or club; and

(c) overnight recreational use on leased or licensed lands by one or more persons outside a designated campground and more than 200 feet from a customary and legal access point or water body.

(22) "Trust land administration account" means the account established by 77-1-108, MCA, from which expenses of the recreational use program are paid.

Notes

Mont. Admin. r. 36.25.145

NEW, 1992 MAR p. 568, Eff. 3/27/92; AMD, 1993 MAR p. 2536, Eff. 10/29/93; AMD, 1994 MAR p. 2539, Eff. 7/8/94; TRANS, 1996 MAR p. 2384; AMD, 2025 MAR, 36-225, Eff. 2/8/2025

AUTH: 77-1-209, 77-1-804, 77-1-806, MCA; IMP: 77-1-101, 77-1-801, 77-1-802, 77-1-804, 77-1-805, 77-1-806, MCA