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This is mostly true. One can wander - botaing, fishing, camping, etc. - between the banks of any waterway of any size in Texas and they will be considered to be
by doodlebugging 8y ago
This is mostly true. One can wander - botaing, fishing, camping, etc. - between the banks of any waterway of any size in Texas and they will be considered to be remaining on public property unless the stream, creek, river, etc. has its entire length from headwaters to terminus with larger stream on property belonging to one owner.
In other words, if the stream you're following begins and ends on property belonging to one owner and no part of that stream is owned or shared with a second party then that stream is entirely private property and access would require permission.
Therefore, short feeder streams in the watersheds may be private property but the majority of waters in Texas are public property between the banks.
People still need to respect the land owner's rights to ask them to tone down parties, control size of any fires, etc. so that their activities don't adversely impact the landowner's property. They also need to remain between the banks unless they have permission to wander around the floodplain, woods, or pastures.
- drb91 8y agoThe entire idea of a land owner is absurd. We need right to roam protections.
- doodlebugging 8y agoI'm not sure editing is possible or allowed so I add this to clarify what I stated above about access to streams in Texas. I sure regret missing that spelling error in the first line where it should've read "boating". Oh well. Navigable waterways are all public waters to their sources. The waterways that could be entirely private that I referred to above (short feeder streams), are intermittent streams that flow downstream into a navigable waterway. Most of these have no stream flow unless there has been rain in the area. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has a great user-friendly section that outlines public and private uses of waterways in Texas.[0] [0]https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/nonpwdpubs/water_issues/rivers/navigation/riddell/index.phtml https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/nonpwdpubs/water_issues/...