Does This Fisherman Have the Right to Be in a Billionaire’s Backyard?

“You see it on rivers like the Taylor,” Mr. Caimi said. “Somebody comes along and builds a bunch of million-dollar homes, and then they decide they don’t want to see rafters anymore.”

The group Backcountry Hunters and Anglers has vocally supported Mr. Hill. Along with habitat destruction, Mr. Tawney called privatization the top threat to his members:

“The Fish and Wildlife Service did a survey, and one of the things they asked was, What is the No. 1 issue that could prevent you from hunting and fishing? Why did you hang it up? The answer was not that their guns are going to be taken away. They’re worried about access.”

The defendants have their own supporters, including Colorado’s potent water lobby. As it does throughout the West, scarcity makes water a precious commodity in Colorado, and the state’s many water users, from ski resorts to marijuana farmers, view potential disruptions with alarm.

“The main concern is that Colorado not open the door to the public trust doctrine,” said Steve Leonhardt, a lawyer representing the Colorado Water Congress, a lobbying group. The public trust doctrine, a legal principle arguing that some resources are too important not to be stewarded for the public, has been used in California and elsewhere to challenge long-settled water-use agreements.

“It’s one that the water community views as a threat,” Mr. Leonhardt said.

The American safari

Colorado’s most exclusive fishing enclave, the Wigwam Club, lies in the foothills west of Denver. Founded in 1921 by 60 of the state’s richest men, the club jealously guards eight exquisite acres along the South Platte River. On digital message boards, nonmembers share rumors about its clientele and stories about sneaking past guards to catch 27-inch rainbows.

Such clubs, which can cost $15,000 or more per year to join, engender mixed feelings, and even their fiercest critics, and those of privatization generally, concede that without them the West’s wildlife would be gravely threatened.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/01/business/colorado-rivers-fishing-lawsuit.html