Well hot damn.
Utah, led by the Utah Stream Access Coalition and a pair of insightful legal eagles – Cullen Battle and Craig Coburn – has taken the first step in restoring rational access to her waters.
Yesterday Judge Keith Kelly of Utah’s 3rd District Court ruled in favor of USAC and “confirmed that the Weber River is navigable where it crosses over the landowner defendant’s properties.”
From USAC –
In the 26-page decision, the Court acknowledged the statehood-era use of the Weber River to float logs from the headwaters in the Uinta Mountains downstream to Wanship and Echo where they were taken out and used for such commercial purposes such as construction of railroads, prop timbers for Park City mines, saw timbers and cordwood. These drives played a “significant role in developing the railroad and mining industries in northern Utah and the surrounding region” wrote Judge Kelly.
Many, many individuals contributed to fighting for our rights, and we thank you for what you’ve done. In particular, we express our deep gratitude to our counsel on this case, Cullen Battle and Craig Coburn, who masterfully wove the history and the law into a strong, cohesive cloth.
Although the ruling has been filed, that doesn’t mean the Weber is “open for business.” We’re still awaiting further details on precisely where the public can access and use the Weber, and there is still some legal legwork that must be done behind the scenes, so don’t go grabbing your rod and reel quite yet. We expect those answers in the coming weeks.
USAC’s Provo case will head to trial in late August with the legislative session – hopefully including reversal of the ill-conceived statute now that case law has been established against it – to follow.
Now is the time for Utah anglers to keep the pressure on and demonstrate impeccable stewardship of their rivers and streams – don’t trespass, always respect lawfully posted private property, carry out trash left by dumbasses before you and follow the high water mark regs.
We’re hoping access minded friends in New Mexico are taking note…
