Editorial in timesunion.com by William Mirabile, Link to original post
I appreciated Phil Brown’s June 15 op-ed piece, “Paddlers face murky waters: Navigable waterways are bogged down in legal limbo.”
While some illegal blockages of navigable waterways in the Adirondacks have been removed as a result of state land acquisition, others, like the one on Shingle Shanty Brook, are still there in violation of common law rights.
As Mr. Brown said, the important thing now for all who enjoy paddling on New York’s navigable waterways is to get A-701 passed in the Legislature. Paddlers should write supporting letters to Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Gov. David Paterson and Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Pete Grannis and anyone in the Senate who seems to be in charge.
To find out more about this public right, see the authoritative article by Ken Hamm, of DEC’s Office of General Counsel, in the 2008 Conservationist magazine. A free copy of the booklet, “Public Navigation Rights in New York State: Questions and Answers,” is available from the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks (518-377-1452) or on the association’s Web site (http://www.protectadks.org) under “Publications.”
