AMERICAN WHITEWATER'S NAVIGABILITY TOOLBOX

Thrid Edition, Fall 2021

American Whitewater seeks to improve citizens' knowledge of the rights American's have to access our nation’s rivers and streams. American Whitewater prepared this Navigability Toolkit as a starting point for meeting this goal. We hope that through building this knowledge base among both recreationists and land owners we can reduce conflicts and support responsible recreational enjoyment of rivers and streams.

Over the past 20 years, AW's team of legal volunteers has researched the navigability statutes for all 50 states. These volunteers have also researched the case law that state courts have developed to define the scope of the public’s rights and privileges on the nation’s waterways. The result was the groundbreaking First Edition of the American Whitewater Navigability Toolkit, published in 2000. In 2007 we were proud to publish the Second Edition of the Navigability Toolkit, which was edited and updated by a team of attorneys at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. This is now the third addition thanks to pro bono assistance from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.

Introduction

Federal Title Test and Navigability

Importance of Legal Representation

Glossary

Authors and Methods

State Reports

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Puerto Rico

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

DISCLAIMER: This Toolkit is not meant to be the definitive source of information on navigability. Laws are not static and the law in your state may have changed since we conducted our research. Always contact your state Attorney General, your city or county Attorney, or private counsel regarding the status of navigability laws in your state. If you learn of some new information that is not included on our website, please forward it to American Whitewater.