It's their property, and they can post "no trespassing" signs if they want to, they say.

Earlier this year, four property owners began posting this and similar signs along the Lusby access area along the North Platte River 25 miles west of Casper because the easement allowing access does not include their land below the high-water mark, they argue in court documents.

The landowners - Corey and Kathryn Davison, Ronald and Stacey Richner, Michael Rempe, and Marton Ranch Inc. - sued the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, demanding it enforce the terms of the easement.

The Game and Fish Department responded on Oct. 6 with a press release stating the Lusby access area is still open.

The legal dispute has squeezed the public, possibly pitting sportsmen who think they have access to the river against landowners who think they don't, according to the department.

"This is an untenable situation for the public who cannot be expected to follow two different standards," according to court documents filed this week by the Game and Fish Department.

So the department wants the Natrona County District Court to keep the access open as it has been since the creation of the Lusby access in 1964, according to court documents filed this week by the Wyoming attorney general's office.

District Judge David Park will hear from attorneys for both sides at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 30.

Meanwhile, the Game and Fish Department wants the court to order the landowners to stop posting signs and to stop confronting users of the Lusby access area until the legal issues about the easement are resolved, according to the motion for the preliminary injunction filed by Senior Assistant Attorney General Levi Martin.

Scott Edberg, Casper region wildlife supervisor for the department, wrote in an affidavit that the 1964 sales contract with Clarence and Frances Lusby stated the easement "… shall extend from midstream of the said North Platte River outward to a point 100 feet above and beyond the high water line …" on both sides of the river.

Thousands of sportsmen since then have used the access area, which has been widely advertised by the Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Edberg wrote.

After the signs were posted, Edberg wrote, property owners began accusing sportsmen of trespassing, including a profanity-laced tirade from Natrona County Sheriff's Deputy and landowner Corey Davison, who accosted a fisherman.

All of which is beside the point, according to the landowners' attorney, Harriet Hageman of Cheyenne.

The Game and Fish Department does not have the right to deprive landowners of the use of their own property, Hageman wrote.

The agency confuses the sales contract cited by Edberg with the more important Lusby easement, which controls the relationship among the landowners, the Game and Fish Department and the public, Hageman wrote.

"Contrary to the Sales Contract, the Lusby Easement does not authorize access to the midstream of the River. The Lusby Easement limits public access to that area that is within 100 feet above and beyond the high water line of the North Platte River," she wrote.

Hageman, in a previous interview, explained the landowners' property lines extend to the middle of the river. When the river is down, that dry area from the high water mark to the water's edge still belongs to the landowners and is private property not included in the easement, Hageman said.

Other easements in the state explicitly allow public access to the middle of the river regardless of the high water mark, she wrote. Not so with the language of the Lusby easement, Hageman wrote.

So the landowners are well within their rights to post "private property" signs and not allow hunting dogs to run across their property and harass livestock and family members, she wrote.

The landowners haven't changed the meaning of the Lusby easement; they only want it enforced, Hageman wrote. "The loss of the 'use and enjoyment' of access below the high water mark is no loss at all when there is no right of access to begin with."

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.

News Tracker

Last we knew: Landowners along the Lusby access area have sued the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for not enforcing the terms of the easement protecting their property from trespass by sportsmen.

The latest: The river access area is still open, and the department wants Natrona County District Court to stop landowners from posting "no trespassing" and similar signs.

What's next: District Judge David Park will hear attorneys for both sides at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 30.