river law handout

[will dawes]

I found this document because of a discussion with a landowner about access to a stream bed from a town maintained bridge on said stream I asked about walking the bed to look for artifacts and to fish the small pools along its banks I clearly was denied any access to the stream so I did some homework and this is what I came up with I hope that someone else can make use of this valuable information as I have
RiverLawHandout.pdf

[robshap]

Thanks for the post.

[will dawes]

I posted this because im almost positive that many of my fellow hobby collectors have also encountered this same argument from landowners along streams and small rivers that we wish to hunt arrowheads along. it is not only rude of these landowners to intrude on us while we commit no actual trespass ,it is indeed illegal for them to interfere with our enjoyment of the rivr bed and bank! so everyone please print this handout and pass it along so all river use and recreation is understood to all. a man was shot in Missouri for getting out of his boat to urinate!!!!  :crazy: that's ridiculous!!! :crazy:  these type of landowners in my opinion shouldn't own anything! if you would kill a man over something so petty as taking a pee you belong in a hospital somewhere under psych eval!!!  here in maine we have some pretty uneducated folks that are quite defensive about there property, that I have no doubt a few would do this same thing if an argument was to arise. please get this info out before anyone else is assaulted or killed by a distraught landowner if it happened there it could well happen again anywhere so please get this out!!!!! thanks everyone

[JoshinMO]

Good Post Wildo! Shame some folks are so possessive/"territorial" about what they think is they're land.

[CliffJ]

I didn't see anything in that statement that allowed peeing or looking for arrowheads on someone else's river bank. Nothing justifies violence but some people get rude and obnoxious when they are using someone else's land. Most people would get back into their boat and go pee somewhere else if confronted by the landowner. JMO, as a waterfront landowner.

[JoshinMO]

Cliff, Me neither. He maybe should have "held it" or peed into river I suppose and he probably wouldn't have got shot on his float trip I suppose. But really, he wasn't on that guys property.

[will dawes]

supreme court has allowed any nondestructive recreational activity on river bed and bank, that covers most activity in my eyes . I agree never should anyone badger another person wich is probably what actually happened .the shootee probably was in the wrong soly for argueing and not leaving but in any event it happened regardless of circumstances and if people would take take the time to get there facts straight about what they really own the whole thing would have been avoided by the landowner just leaving the guy to his pee. I am not trying to be technical or argumenitive with you as a landowner I just wanted to post this paper for people to read and understand some of there river rights I was curious so I did the homework and thought I would share what I found thank you for your reply and happy hunting

[Pinetree1]

From what I read in that post, you are not allowed to step foot on soil of a river. You can only navigate, fish, etc. as long as you are in the boat. I was told by water patrol on the Ohio River that the land owner owns to the middle of the river where property lines are, but if you are in a boat on the water, even if the river is up to the landowner's porch, you are ok. If the river is down the landowner owns the ground that is exposed. He said when on the river to stay in the boat unless you get on public land. That means no looking for rocks on banks or gravel bars without landowners permission!

[JoshinMO]

http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%252F#/watch?v=1yuc4BI5NWU

[laswell67]

Thanx for the handout, I printed it and gonna keep it in my truck. this morning I headin out to about 10 county bridges in the county.  gonna have a squatting truck load of iron when I am done.  I will have it handy if a landowner has any ideas that I can t get in water by the bridge.   james

[laswell67]

its amazing how much stuff is thrown in creeks and rivers.  this is from last year, but, today truck will look somewhat like this.

james laswell

[JoshinMO]

Be careful out there James.

[Ron Kelley]

When I go stream walking I always carry a bag to haul the trash out. Thankfully I don't see big trash.

[tomclark]

state waters and lands in FL are illegal to collect in/on, nsvigsble or not.
an example from FL is Fisheating Creek that feeds Lake Okeechobee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheating_Creek

[OnewiththewilD]

hey laswell i dont see why anyone would object to you cleanin up the rivers, so what if you get some money for the junk , you deserve it for diggin it out! and your helping the enviroment. im pretty sure garbage isnt good for the waters.good job man