|
Colorado has long lagged behind other Western states when it comes to protecting public stream access for recreation. After decades of lawsuits and legal opinions, the Colorado Sun reports that recreation advocates are working towards a legislative solution that could clarify the public's right to float through private property and to make incidental contact with the stream bed, which would be in line with stream access laws in many other Western states.
Private landowners have long fought improvements to public stream access in Colorado, in some cases going so far as to string barbed wire across streams to discourage the public from floating past private property. According to Nik White, a whitewater paddling instructor, "Landowners are getting more aggressive" and engaging in threatening behaviors more frequently in response to the increased interest in outdoor recreation since the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are in this situation where we are recognizing that outdoor recreation is losing. I think that’s bad for our image and it’s bad for our economy," said Jenifer Freeman, a lobbyist working with recreation groups that are considering a legislative effort. "These are amazing places, and I get wanting to own your own little piece of it, but I don’t see how it’s in the public interest to allow private property owners to gobble it all up so no one gets to use it."
|
Having funding pulled is a death knell to many projects that have real jobs and real people’s lives attached to them.”
