A Class War Runs Through It (summary)

A Class War Runs Through It

James Cox Kennedy head of Cox enterprises bought 4000 acres in the Montana Ruby Valley and transformed the area into private hunting and fishing retreat. Though it's an admirable way preserve habitats and restore its natural surroundings, it has caused problems with the locals that have lived in the area for decades.

The two problems that this has caused are Montana's stream-access laws and the conservation easements. Montana's stream access law mentions that all state rivers and streams belong to the public. The problem James Kennedy is facing is that he has blocked the river access from his ranch and this has caused an outrage with the locals. His reasons for blocking the river access is that the public will damage the habitats and the fragile fishing areas which he has spent a great deal of money nursing.

The second problem, the "conservation easements" which is when property owners receive tax breaks by purchasing large acres of land and conserving our ecosystem. Easements have been shown to have success but in this case when the property owner gets a tax break by blocking the river access and say that he is conserving our ecosystem is wrong.

This situations puts wealthy owners in a position where they can do anything they want. Those that work for the state need to stand there ground and not let wealthy owners stomp over them.

To help prevent this problem, state laws should be made where wealthy owners get involved with communities they are interested in, work together and think of solution to prevent this type of problems