Two years ago, the state Supreme Court ruled that because state law declares that all water is public property, the public has an easement to play in the water and touch the stream beds that lie beneath, even if they are privately owned. That means folks can use the public water to swim, boat, fish, wade, hunt, and touch privately owned stream beds as long as they don't injure the landowner unnecessarily.

This expansive ruling gave the public recreational access to any stream, lake, pond or puddle in the state, regardless of who owns the land around or beneath them, so long as folks use a public access point to enter the stream.