Desolation Canyon, Utah's Green River
In July of 2008 a Utah court case ruled in favor of all the navigable waterways being public property. It was a landmark case for the people of Utah. The state ruled based on that all the waterways are owned by the state and therefore the mud and bottom of the river is also owned by the state. The court did not define the boundaries of the streams though.
That story was first listed here in July
And now even before a bill has hit the Utah legislature, newspapers are reporting how anglers will be losing these “new” rights.
The Salt Lake Tribune: Stream Access May Partly Evaporate January 21,2009
The message is two fold, first that its only anglers affected (no, it actually is all Utahans, and every person in general) and that is a near certainty that the “new” rights will be lost. Instead, instead these are basic rights set forward by the United States Congress, and people will fight for them.
The US Federal government entrusted all the navigable waterways to each state to protect for all the people. Each state has done various things with their internal laws since being handed that mandate as a state.
Colorado has made it a felony trespassing crime to set foot on the bottom of privately owned rivers, or even to bump into a rock. Montana gave up state ownership in a gamble that an easement for the public would serve the public just as well (this is now being attacked there).
Oregonians have successfully fought off bills that posed as a “solution” to the river right “problem.” Those bills, starting in 1997, tried to make some trade with “anglers”. They attempted to implement additional agencies, additional laws, and even to wholesale give up state lands to private property owners, without compensating the people of the state.
River rights are for all the people. They have facilitated industry, commerce, travel, and recreation for all the people. They are not rights specific to anglers. Just ask all the wives that love to go along for the day, reading a book, but would never touch a fish. Children going rafting at church camp, bird watchers, hunters, white water rafters, kayakers, picnickers, and anglers are only some of the ways you can lable “people” in general. Rivers are for people.
A person might have a boat experience only once in their life, and still that is important to protect that as an option for them and for people in the future. It’s important that a mother can take her kids on an summer afternoon stroll down the river. Wading in the shallows, playing in the swimming holes, skipping rocks, finding crawdads, and enjoying that resource is something that people have done for millennium. That experience connects us to each other, to our world. It teaches our children, its an important relief for adults. A church can baptize people in the river, a person can cleanse their spirit at the river. This is something we know in Oregon. We haven’t given up yet.
We have public beaches here. We had to fight for that all through the 1960’s. Today, we do not see those beaches as a place strictly for anglers, or clammers, or surfers. We are proud and known all over the world for our public beaches. They are there for us to stroll, to contemplate, to experience, to share. Our rivers are no different, and we will defend them.
If Utah loses their river rights, it does us no good. If Oregon were to lose our river rights, it does Utah no good. Our rights have a common history. Our rights are for all the people. Don’t underestimate the people.
NOTE: CWO is not taking up the fight in Utah. The purpose of watching other states is to notice how the message against river rights is being crafted, and to watch for successful responses.
