River access in Colorado remains contentious after a half century
A river access advocacy group is splintered. Landowners are organized to protect a decades-old “float but don’t touch” decree. And lawmakers, halfway through the legislative session, have yet to take up any bill that would change that state’s murky rules around recreational access to the state’s waterways. As a short and dry river season takes shape after a snow-starved winter, it appears the status quo will hold. But passions are roiling at Colorado’s uniquely volatile confluence of property rights, recreational pressures and river safety. … The blend of three divergent arguments — the right-to float, the right-to-wade and do nothing — seems to have stymied any new laws.
