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<br />. <br /> <br />KEN SALAZAR <br />Attorney General <br /> <br />BARHAM McDoNNELL <br />Chief Deputy Attorney General <br /> <br />MICHAEL E. McLACHLAN <br />Solicitor General <br /> <br /> <br />OFFICE OFTHE ATTOR,'lEY GENERAL <br /> <br />STATE SERVICES BUILDING <br />1525 Shennan Street - 5th Floor <br />Denver, Colorado 80203 <br />Phone (303) 866-4500 <br />FAX (303) 866-5691 <br /> <br />STATE OF COLORADO <br />DEPARTMENT OF LAW <br /> <br />June 8, 1999 <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />Ken Salazar <br />Attorney General <br /> <br />\(€-: ~Q~~Pr \~V'\ 22~ <br /> <br />FROM: Felicity Hannay <br />Deputy Attorney General <br /> <br />RE; Floating Access Issues <br /> <br />. Recently the Attorney General's Office has received a number of inquiries concerning <br />the rights and responsibilities oflandowners and floaters with respect to rivers and streams <br />that flow through and across private lands, The inquiries have come from commercial <br />rafting and floating companies and organizations; private landowners whose property <br />includes the bed and banks of streams capable of floating rafts and other small boats; and the <br />Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, To our knowledge, no recent inquiry concerning <br />these issues has been received from non-commercial boaters or floaters, <br /> <br />We have been asked by these various contradictory and mutually exclusive requests <br />to clarify the existing law to make clear that (l) there is a right to float through private <br />property, so long as the floater does not touch the bed or banks of the stream; (2) there is no <br />right to float through private property, and a floater is subject to an action for civil trespass <br />by the landowner; (3) a landowner may physically obstruct a stream in order to prevent <br />floating through private property; and (4) a landowner may not physically obstruct a stream <br />in a way to prevent floating, even if his purpose is to contain livestock. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />In addition, we have received two recent inquiries from the authorities in Gunnison <br />County. The Gunnison County Sheriffs Department seeks assistance in interpreting two <br />criminal statutes, one of which addresses criminal trespass and the other of which addresses <br />criminal obstruction of a waterway. The District Attorney for the Seventh Judicial District <br />has also requested an opinion interpreting the criminal obstruction statute, As we <br />