Oregon Holds Public Access Meetings

Boating is big business in Oregon. Boat sales and recreational activities such as motor boating, fishing, white water rafting, charter boat fishing, windsurfing and river excursions are associated with more than $1 billion in sales and 29,200 jobs annually.
-The Oregon Bluebook, the official state directory.

Oregon’s Statesman Journal reported on March 16th program would clarify the rights of property owners and the public. The article reports that “Oregon is looking for an easier way to resolve conflicts between people who own property on rivers and the anglers, kayakers, bird-watchers and others who use those rivers and their banks. The conflicts arise over the question of who actually owns the rivers and their banks — a murky and often emotional issue that, for most waterways in the state and nation, has not been legally resolved. Thus far, the state has used a cumbersome method of determining the answer to that question.”

Meetings are scheduled for discussion of a new regulation that would provide a more streamlined approach that state officials hope will strike a compromise:

• March 18 at Mill City, Santiam High School, 265 Evergreen SW, 6:30 p.m.
• March 19 at Sweet Home, Senior/Community Center, 880 18th Ave., 7:00 p.m.
• March 22 at Fossil, Fossil Gymnasium, 7:00 p.m.
• March 25 at Tillamook, Fairview Grange, 5520 E 3rd, 7:00 p.m.
• Yet unscheduled is a meeting in the Medford area

The Statesman Journal reports that “This is kind of an attempt to identify what are the appropriate public uses on waterways while protecting upland property owners’ rights,” said John Lilly, assistant director of the Division of State Lands. “It isn’t a statewide solution. It is meant to be a test drive to see if an action like this could work.”

If successful, the new policy would help to smooth navigability conflicts throughout the state. American Whitewater has provided strategic assistance on the issue of securing navigability in Oregon. More information about AW’s research on navigability in the state is provided on our website, as well as in neighboring states.According to the Statesman Journal “Under the Equal Footing Doctrine, the beds and banks of any waterway that was navigable, or susceptible of navigation, when Oregon was admitted to the union in 1859 are considered public property. The problem is that portions of only 12 rivers, including the Willamette, have been declared navigable by State Lands. That leaves ownership of the beds and banks of at least 100 other Oregon waterways in limbo, including the five rivers named in the pilot program.”

Some of the main features of the State proposal identified in the article include:

• Public access would be restricted to within 10 feet of the water line or to the ordinary high water line, whichever is lower.
• Lawful recreation activities would be allowed, but camping and fires would not.
• Property owners would not be liable for personal injury of river users or for environmental damage they may cause.
• Property owners might be reimbursed for damage to their property.
• A river’s bed and banks would not be subject to property taxes.
• Some form of revenue raising mechanism would be introduced, such as a registration fee for non-motorized boats, to pay for enforcement, signage and garbage cans along rivers.