More than 100 wader-clad, kayak-waving, fly rod-holding anglers and river lovers rallied on the steps of the State Capitol on Friday in support of a bill to clarify what they can and can't do on rivers that run through private Utah lands.
"I have a right to go fishing on these waters and I don't understand why some people are trying to take that right away," 9-year-old Garrison Asper told the group.
Ten-year-old Cole Barkey of Draper spoke to the crowd and said not allowing access to rivers and streams for fishing was the same as trying to keep kids off the sidewalk.
The bill they were supporting, HB80 sponsored by Lorie Fowlke, R-Orem, has been pulled and moved to the Senate where Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, agreed to run it.
Fowlke said the reason was because she was not sure her bill could pass the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee, where it could face two competing measures sponsored by Rep. Kay McIff, R-Richfield, and Rep. Curt Webb, R-Logan. Those bills would be far more favorable to private landowners, some of whom are upset with a unanimous 2008 Utah Supreme Court ruling that allows anglers and river runners to access rivers that flow through private land. A bill last year that would have severely limited and clarified access rules failed.
Fowlke had worked for months with anglers, river groups and landowners in an effort to find a compromise, one that the Utah Farm Bureau Federation ultimately could not support. She thanked the river interests for taking time from their jobs, fishing and family to work on the bill and for their willingness to compromise to get the court ruling clarified.
At its most basic, the debate involves private property rights versus public access rights granted by the Supreme Court. Agriculture interests and some legislators would like to override that ruling and prohibit any access.
Anglers and river interests recognize that the court ruling needed clarification. Fowlke's bill, now being sponsored by Bramble, would do that by allowing anglers and river runners access to the high water line of riverbeds and not be forced to always have their feet in the water.
Randy Parker, CEO of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, wrote in The Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday that the Supreme Court ruling usurped the power of the Legislature by defining stream bed access judicially and not legislatively. In his opinion, the ruling violated private property rights.
Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, said his group supports private property rights as well but that rules also must be put into place to protect the rights of the public.
