Colorado’s long-standing balance between public recreation and private property along rivers is now under renewed pressure. But changing stream access law would impose significant fiscal and legal costs for relatively limited new recreational benefit. The state of Colorado itself may not be able to afford a redrafting of river access laws, and the state’s property owners certainly will not be able to afford it. … Changing these laws would not only be a legal headache. It would be an enormously expensive proposition for landowners, county governments, and the state of Colorado, and one with limited demonstrable value.
–Written by Greg Walcher and Mike King, former executive directors of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.