“The Mitchell Slough, in the Bitterroots of Montana, is a century-old irrigation ditch. Newcomers to the area, including rocker Huey Lewis, worked on the slough to make it better for fish. Though farmers were at first skeptical, the redigging and unsilting made the slough better for agriculture as well as for fish. But those fish are valuable. Other folks covet them. In Montana, natural water bodies must be accessible to the public. So the recreation lobby took the slough’s owners to court.” (03/15/10)