Good News For Utah Fishermen and Assorted River-users

Power to the people, right on!

Danged good news for stream fishermen, kayackers and assorted other users of Utah's rivers and streams. The Utah Supreme Court apparently issued a decision today, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, proclaiming that all you folks who spend your summers in search of the wily troutfish, or just navigating Utah's many river watercourses in variously competent floatable devices, can now legally set foot on the "stream bed" of river-adjoining landowners' properties, whenever you dang-well want. Here's the gist, from today's SLTrib web article:

Utahns who fish, float or swim in public streams and rivers may also touch and walk on the beds of those waterways, even when the water flows across private property, the Utah Supreme Court ruled Friday.
In fact, the high court noted that without the ability to touch streambeds, members of the public cannot effectively enjoy their right to recreational activities.
The only caveat, is that water users must behave "reasonably and cause no unnecessary injury to the landowner," the high court ruled.
"It's an exciting decision," said attorney Robert H. Hughes, who argued the case before the high court in April. "I'd call it a landmark decision in the body of law on public waters.
"I think anglers in Utah will be very happy to hear about this."

So here's the deal. If you set foot on the stream bed on some shotgun-toting, trigger happy Morgan County (pick your county) farmer's land... whilst fishing or floating on the Weber River (pick your river)... be sure to have a printed-out copy of Salt Lake Tribune article of today in hand.

We're also sure that this article will spare everybody who's involved with more than a little political grief, and hopefully NOT a volley of buckshot.

Just another helpful post from yer old pal Rudi.

Read the Utah Supreme Court opinion here.

And what say our gentle readers about all this?

Update 7/19/08 11:55 p.m. MT: More on this blockbuster Utah real estate law story from today's Std-Ex. The Utah Supreme court is talking "public easement rights" here, gentle readers, rather than "incidental rights" of folks who use public waterways for commerce. This decision is really "big" for the recreational watercourse rights of Utahns. It'll be most interesting to see where the court cases cases go fom here.