A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from groups that challenged Wyoming laws prohibiting trespassing on private lands to collect data. Groups including the Western Watersheds Project, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Press Photographers Association sued Wyoming last year. The groups claimed state laws prohibiting trespassing to collect data were unconstitutional. The groups said the laws, which allowed both civil penalties and criminal prosecution, would block people from informing government regulators about such things as violations of water quality rules and illegal treatment of animals.U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl of Casper dismissed the groups' lawsuit Wednesday, ruling there's no constitutional right to trespass on private lands.
"The ends, no matter how critical or important to a public concern, do not justify the means, violating private property rights," Skavdahl wrote.Skavdahl last winter expressed concerns about earlier versions of the laws, which the Wyoming Legislature had passed early last year. The earlier versions sought to prohibit collection of data on "open lands," a term Skavdahl said could be stretched to cover more than just private property.In response to Skavdahl's criticism, the Wyoming Legislature earlier this year revised the laws to specify they only applied to trespassing to collect data on private lands.Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Thursday said he was pleased with Skavdahl's dismissal of the groups' lawsuit."There has been a lot of misinformation about the intent of this law," Mead said. "The judge's ruling affirms that the issue at the heart of the matter is preserving private property rights — a fundamental right in our country."