# SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF UTAH Decision



## HuntingCrazy (Sep 8, 2007)

Did you hear about this Utah state supreme court decision on rivers and private ownership?

Very cool!!!

July 18,2008 the state determined that all public activities, specifically hunting and fishing are public rights when it comes to waterways. That means you can hunt, fish, float any river and you can get out of the boat and touch the riverbed and still be considered on public land. Before the law stated that you could not touch the bottom [the public owned the water and the landowner owned the dirt beneath the water].

This makes it a bit more fair to those of us who did not inherit thousands of acres of wildland.

_Summary

In this case, we must determine the scope of the
public's easement in state waters. More specifically, we must
determine whether the easement, which allows the public to engage
in recreational activities in state waters, also allows the
public the right to touch the privately owned beds below those
waters.

Conclusion

We hold that the scope of the easement provides the
public the right to float, hunt, fish, and participate in all
lawful activities that utilize the water. We further hold that
the public has the right to touch privately owned beds of state
waters [all rivers, waterways] in ways incidental to all recreational 
rights provided forin the easement, so long as they do so reasonably and cause no
unnecessary injury to the landowner.

Chief Justice Durham, Justice Wilkins, Justice Parrish,
and Justice Nehring concur in Associate Chief Justice Durrant's
opinion._

http://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/supopin/Conatser071808.pdf


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Yeah, it is huge; you will find several lengthy threads about it from July if you care to see other comments.


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