American Whitewater

American Whitewater's Colorado Access Program works to improve public access to rivers and works directly with landowners, law makers, and paddlers to minimize access conflicts across the state. Our primary goals of this program are to find long-term solutions for legal river access in Colorado and to protect and improve public access areas for boating. Colorado is the only state in the west that has yet to determine the extent of the public's rights to float and recreate on streams running through private property. Numerous landowner-paddler conflicts arise when navigation is blocked by fences, downed trees, or metal obstructions in the river. Although the Colorado Constitution says that the rivers of the state belong to the people, a 1979 Colorado Supreme Court case and subsequent Attorney General opinion presents numerous unresolved issues. Paddlers and anglers are consistently harassed or threatened by landowners or law enforcement in areas of Colorado, and American Whitewater works diligently to find solutions to these conflicts. We have worked with the state of Colorado to clarify the trespass statutes, recreational use statutes, and limits of liability for private landowners across the state.