Jim Goetz ~ 2016 Inductee

Jim Goetz was born in Miles City, Montana, in 1942 and raised in Ennis, a Madison River town. He graduated from Montana State University in 1965, and from Yale Law School in 1968. The next year, he began to practice law in Montana – or, more to the point, he began to practice law for Montana.

In the 1970s, Jim drafted the prescient Montana Conservation Easement Law for a group of Blackfoot River Valley ranchers; later he represented A. B. “Bud” Guthrie, Jr. – famed author of the novel The Big Sky and the screenplay “Shane” – in contesting a subdivision in Teton County; he worked for Montana Trout Unlimited to keep water in the Yellowstone River to benefit fish; and he represented the Libby Rod and Gun Club in a case that saw the U.S. 9th Circuit Court enjoin the construction of a quarter of a billion dollar “re-regulation dam,” below the main Libby Dam, on the Kootenai River in northwestern Montana. Had that project proceeded it would have inundated another seven miles of the Kootenai River.

In all, Jim’s argued nearly 100 cases in the Montana Supreme Court, including various seminal cases under the Montana Constitution. Most famously, in 1984 he served as the attorney for the Montana Coalition for Stream Access, which formed to protect the public’s right to access Montana waterways.

Those early Montana stream access cases included: “Montana Coalition for Steam Access v. Curran,” which focused on the Dearborn River; and “Montana Coalition for Stream Access v. Hildreth,” which focused on the Beaverhead River.

In arguing the cases, Jim won two district court and two Supreme Court lawsuits. As a result, today everyone can enjoy recreating on Montana’s rivers between the high- water marks.

Jim’s advice to the Montana Coalition for Appropriate Management of School Trust Lands led to a law that opened public access to five million acres of school trust lands and isolated parcels of BLM and USFS lands for recreation.

Jim also personally handled and prevailed in a class action lawsuit against the Butte Water Company, brought by a group of nuns and citizens, to provide clean and safe drinking water to thousands of residents.

His numerous awards and accolades include the “National Resources Defense Award” from the National Wildlife Federation; “Legend of the Headwaters Award” from the Madison/Gallatin Chapter of Trout Unlimited; and the “Jeannette Rankin Civil Liberties Award” from the Montana Chapter of the ACLU.

He’s listed among Montana State University’s most prominent alumni in its first 100 years.

Widely recognized among the nation’s top litigators, Jim built his considerable reputation by defending the public’s right to access Montana’s waterways.