From the Utah Stream Access Coalition today –
Last Friday was a win for stream access in Utah. Over 400 people showed up at the Capitol steps to support our cause. Objective number one was accomplished: HB 68 was withdrawn from consideration by the Legislature. It was your calls, your emails and letters, and your voices that made this happen! Thank you!
As part of the arrangement to pull HB68, the USAC agreed to not pursue formal introduction of its compromise legislation during this session. USAC’s proposed legislation would replace Utah’s current stream access law, the so-called “Public Water Access Act,” with compromise language based upon Idaho statute. While we believe that our proposed legislation would resolve the stream access fight once-and-for-all, our strategic stand-down avoids a showdown between the two bills in the Legislature, and provides the courts time to review the challenges that the USAC has brought against the Public Waters Access Act….
While we’d bet a case of your favorite beer that the USAC leadership would have much rather NOT withdrawn their compromise legislation, there’s no doubt a rational argument to be made for letting the courts grind through deliberations in the pending cases.
For you Western river historians, USAC has linked to a summary of a very interesting report compiled by Sarah Dant, PhD, professor of history at Weber State University, detailing the early commercial use of some of the waterways in the state of Utah.
Historical use patterns may indeed end up being at the heart of many of the upcoming water discussions.
