PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - Attorney General Marty Jackley says a federal court has decided to dismiss a lawsuit from landowners who wanted to declare that parts of the Mickelson Trail in Fall River County are privately owned.
Jackley says local landowners filed a lawsuit last April arguing some parts of the trail that was originally owned by Grand Island Railroad had passed into private ownership. The 109-mile trail in the Black Hills is on a former railroad line and stretches between Deadwood and Edgemont.
The state argued the corridor was not abandoned but was instead subject to 1989 agreement that allowed the railroad right-of-way to be used as a recreational trail and be managed by the state.
Jackley says the court agreed, confirming the state’s right to manage the trail for recreational purposes.
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