From the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dave Buchanan):
“The bill would allow incidental contact with property when commercial rafters went through private property,” said Mark Schumacher, owner of Three Rivers Outfitters in Almont. “It would also allow commercial rafts to portage around obstacles in the river.”[…]
[State Representative Kathleen Curry’s] bill, called the “River Outfitters Viability Act,” has the support of the Colorado River Outfitters Association, which represents more than 50 licensed outfitters in Colorado. According to the CROA Web site, commercial rafting contributed $142 million to Colorado’s economy in 2008.
More coverage from Chris Woodka writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:
Along with the outfitters association, he is working hard to keep access to one stretch of the Taylor River where a landowner wants to block access to commercial float trips through the property. The outfitters are supporting HB1188, co-sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Curry, I-Gunnison, and Sen. Mary Hodge, R-Brighton, that would explicitly allow commercial rafters to conduct float trips across private and government lands.
Past court cases have removed the outfitters from criminal liability if they do not make contact with the banks or riverbed of a stream, but simply pass through. There is still the possibility of a civil case being filed, such as a 2000 case on Lake Fork in the Gunnison River basin that essentially shut down a rafting company, Schumacher said. “We raised money after the Lake Fork case in 2000 to protect the right to float,” Schumacher said. “Right now, people are buying up ranches on the middle Taylor and forming private fishing clubs.” The new law is needed to clarify existing decisions on the rights of rafters and property owners, he added. “There is no statute or law in Colorado in reference to civil trespassing,” Schumacher said. “This is a David vs. Goliath situation, where we have to defend ourselves from private developers who bought the land knowing we float through it.”
More 2010 Colorado legislation coverage here.