A spat brewing between anglers and a landowner over a natural water channel connecting Pine Creek and the New Fork River near Pinedale could reflect a growing trend of tension between landowners and floaters across Wyoming.
“It’s symbolic of greater issues,” legendary Wyoming fly fisherman and outdoor businessman Jack Dennis told Cowboy State Daily.
‘The River Broke Through’
A Jackson native, Dennis now spends most of his time in the Pinedale area and has floated and fished on the New Fork River there since the early 1960s.
Downstream from the area in question, Pine Creek flows into the New Fork River, which in turn flows into the Green River.
“The (New Fork) river broke through and went into Pine Creek about 20-some years ago,” he said.
The breakthrough was along two natural channels about 400 yards apart a few miles southeast of Pinedale.
Both channels cut through private property. In Wyoming, it’s legal to float through private property on any navigable waterway.
But getting out of a watercraft and wading, with one’s feet touching the streambed, is considered trespassing.
One of the channels is thick with willows, Dennis said. He and some friends went through once years ago, but it was so much work, they never tried again.
The other channel is wider and easier to get through and has seen regular use from floaters, he said.
The property that channel cuts through has changed hands a few times over the decades, with the latest owner buying it a few years ago, Dennis said.
Now, some locals are claiming that the latest owner — officially listed as the Florida-based River Ranch LLC — has been trying to block the channel with rocks and soil.
That’s raised the ire of many local anglers and fishing guides, Dennis said.
It could also raise sticky issues with wider implications of what constitutes a “navigable” waterway, and what rights landowners have to control boat traffic, build fences across channels and the like.
The central question might be whether Pine Creek, flowing through private property is a bona fide navigable waterway — particularly since it’s taking in water from the New Fork River through the channel, Dennis said.
He's long been closely involved in access and conservation policy issues.
He said that even such thing as changes in popular watercraft can complicate matters.
“Kayakers and small boat users have taken it to mean that literally anything you can put those boats into is a ‘navigable waterway,’” he said.
Corps Of Engineers Looking Into It
The Army Corps of Engineers has primary jurisdiction over the waterways in question.
The Corps’ Wyoming Regulatory Office on June 2 received a report of work being done on the channel, Nathan Morey, the agency’s South Dakota-Wyoming section chief, told Cowboy State Daily in an email.
“We are currently gathering information to determine if the work is subject to the Corps’ regulatory authorities under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act,” Morey wrote. “The Corps of Engineers is responsible for issuing permits for activities that place fill material (e.g., soil, rock, etc.) into waters of the United States such as Pine Creek and its abutting wetlands.”
During a phone interview early Friday, Morey said the Corps’ primary concern is any possible “discharge of fill material” into the channel from work that might be being done there.
“We’re focused on the discharge of fill and its effects,” Morey said.
In such cases, whether fill is blocking a navigable waterway could be taken into account as a possible effect, he said.
Fences And Waterways
Dennis said that when he first started floating in the area, the Maytag family owned the property where the channels are, and he had permission from them to cross the land.
Later, two oil companies owned the land in succession before it was sold to the current owners, he said.
At one point, a wire fence was put across the channel, he said.
According to his understanding of access laws, landowners are allowed to put fences across channels if it’s necessary to contain livestock, Dennis said.
The wire fence across the channel was built in such a manner that it could be taken down to allow a boat to pass and then put back up.
“The respectful floaters always made sure to put the fence back up when they passed through,” Dennis said.
He said that to his knowledge, the fence is no longer there.
Dennis said he’s not sure what will result from the brewing dust-up over the channel between Pine Creek and the New Fork River.
It hasn’t dampened his love for the area, however.
“I’ve fished all over the world,” he said. “And still, to this day, the New Fork River in Wyoming is my favorite.”
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
