Utah’s stream access issue – where a small group worked to successfully privatize public resources – seems to heating up once again, and frankly, we’re happy to hear it.

If you missed it the first time around, Utah anglers won a State Supreme Court decision guaranteeing them access, but got blindsided by legislation cooked up behind closed doors.

When HB141 was signed in late March, it effectively closed off access to much of Utah’s streams and rivers, and to make matters worse, proponents of the bill offered up a “pay-to-play” plan to restore some of the access – essentially making Utah (and out-of-state) anglers pay to access water they could walk to just a few months prior.

According to this Salt Lake Tribune opinion piece, opposition to the probably illegal HB141 legislation is ramping up, and a lawsuit appears imminent.

A lawsuit is close to being filed and a new group has emerged with the promise to “promote and assist in all aspects of securing public access to Utah’s public waters and stream beds.”

The Utah Stream Access Coalition made its appearance on Facebook in late July. Among the founders is David Serdar. If you don’t think he is serious about the issue of stream access in Utah, consider that he resigned his position with the Stonefly Society — the local Trout Unlimited chapter in Salt Lake City — to avoid conflicts with that organization’s rules about access issues.

“Basically the idea is to enhance stream access by any means necessary,” Serdar said.

Good luck to Utah’s anglers, who may have the law on their side, but are facing a typically western group of entrenched interests bent on privatizing a public resource.

See you in court, Tom Chandler.

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