is often a shoreline public right-of-way, 66 feet deep, that is public ac- cess,” says Graham Ketcheson, executive director of Paddle Canada. “But in the last 35 years, in the province of Ontario, people have been able to buy the frontage from some municipal governments and own it right down to the high waterline. That’s where it gets complicated. How does a paddler know what is public or private when they want to stop?”
NOBODY KNOWS In the U.S., where there is a right to float, river users are also allowed to use the riverbed below the high-water mark, as Dart did on the Meramec. But what about scouting and portaging, which often involve stepping above the high water mark? Those laws vary. In Montana, it’s legal. In North Carolina, the law isn’t clear, says Leaper. The legal morass doesn’t end there. Many states are awash in deeds
that show property lines running to the low-water mark or centerlines of rivers. This means landowners are paying property tax on land that is underwater, and, if the public can use the river, over which they have little control. Some landowners worry about liability from public use of their property, or the effects on ranching operations.
WHERE IT’S HEADED? As river use in North America grows, comprehensive legal rulings have re- mained elusive. “A certain amount of court cases will slowly work their way through the system,” says Colburn. “It’s a terrible, time-consuming and con- flict-based way to resolve the issue, with personal costs to people.” In 2009, Phil Brown, a magazine editor from Saranac Lake, New York, pad-
dled a short stretch of Shingle Shanty Brook through private land as part of a two-day trip through the William C. Whitney Wilderness, a state forest pre- serve. His trip was done to make a point. “I believed I had the right to paddle the short section through private land,
even though it was posted,” says Brown. The year after, state officials determined that the waterway was open to
the public. However, that didn’t stop the landowners from serving Brown a trespass lawsuit in 2010. The court dismissed the suit, but the landowners appealed the decision and put up cameras. A final ruling was made on January 15, almost six years after the trip that launched the dispute. The court ruled in Brown’s favor 3-2. “I’m grateful to New York State officials for taking my side in this case,” he
adds. “It gives me hope that, in this state at least, paddlers’ rights will be de- fended. With luck, New York will set an example for other states.” The land- owners may yet appeal the ruling.
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