Trout Unlimited Policy Concerning Stream Access Issues

Approved May 10, 2006

In 1999 TU’s Board of Trustees approved a policy to govern the involvement of

TU staff, councils and chapters in disputes related to public access to rivers, streams,

and lakes for recreational purposes. The Board of Trustees hereby revokes the 1999

policy and adopts the policy set forth below.

The purposes of this policy are as follows:

1. To provide an efficient process for the review of public access issues that

chapters and councils wish to undertake or confront.

2. To develop categories of access issues that require review and approval of

the Executive Committee and categories that do not, and to communicate

those distinctions to TU chapters and councils.

3. To provide a better means for the Board and staff to communicate with

chapters, councils, and volunteer leaders regarding TU’s policies and

practices with respect to issues relating to the public’s right to access rivers,

lakes, and streams.

4. To provide a focal point for the collection of information related to all TU

participation in access issues and to develop tools and expertise for chapters

and councils addressing access issues or advocating for voluntary access

programs.

To achieve the purposes set forth above, the Board, in consultation with the

members of the National Leadership Council (NLC), hereby creates a joint working

group of the Board and the NLC to be known as the Stream Access Working Group

(hereinafter “Working Group”). The membership of the Working Group shall consist

of the Chairman of the NLC or his designee, two members of the NLC, and two at large

Trustees. All members of the Working Group, except the Chairman of NLC, shall be

appointed by mutual agreement of the Chairman of the NLC and the Chairman of the

Board of Trustees. TU’s general counsel and/or legal advisor shall participate in the

Working Group proceedings, but neither shall have a vote. Members of the Working

Group shall serve terms not to exceed two years, and may each serve up to three

consecutive terms. The Chairman of the NLC and the Chairman of the Board of

Trustees, upon appointing the initial membership of the Working Group, shall set the

terms of the initial members so that terms are staggered.

The Working Group shall serve as the central contact point for all TU chapters

and councils confronted with or actually engaged in issues related to the public’s right to

access rivers, lakes, and streams for purposes of fishing. Any chapter or council faced

with such an issue, or desiring to become involved in such an issue, shall contact and

consult with the Working Group. This consultation shall occur with respect to any

access issue, including advocating for or negotiating voluntary access agreements with

landowners.

This broad level of consultation will enable the Working Group to collect

information about TU’s participation in access issues; to give the chapter or council the

benefit of any information, forms, or other tools the Working Group has available to it;

and to advise the chapter or council whether its proposed involvement in an access

issue requires formal review and approval by the Working Group and the Executive

Committee. Although the Board directs the Working Group, with the approval of the

Executive Committee, to develop the precise categories of access issues for which TU’s

participation will require formal approval, the Board finds that TU’s participation in

disputes with individual landowners over the precise scope of their property rights, and

TU’s participation in administrative or legislative changes in the law that would affect the

precise scope of riparian property rights with respect to public access for recreation,

always shall require formal approval by the Working Group and the Executive

Committee.

The Working Group shall have the following responsibilities:

1. To collect information about all of TU’s participation in issues related to public

access to rivers, lakes, and streams.

2. To develop and circulate within TU, with the specific approval of the

Executive Committee, categories of access participation by TU’s councils and

chapters that will and will not require the approval of the Working Group and

the Executive Committee.

3. In the case of access involvement where Working Group and Executive

Committee approval is required, to evaluate proposed TU chapter or council

involvement in stream or lake access issues and make recommendations to

the Executive Committee as to whether it is appropriate for the chapter or

council to participate in the particular access issue. The Working Group shall

respond to the chapter or council requesting participation in an access issue

as soon as practicable, but in most cases no more than 30 days after receipt

of the prescribed information unless further time is requested by the Working

Group.

4. To develop and provide to chapters and councils a description of the

materials that must be furnished by the chapter or council in cases requiring

formal Working Group and Executive Committee approval.

5. To serve as a contact point for TU members, chapters, and councils with

questions regarding TU’s access policies and TU’s participation in issues

relating to public access to streams and lakes.

6. To develop, if financial resources are available to do so, TU programs for

working with state and federal agencies to create programs for the voluntary

purchase from private landowners of public access rights to rivers, streams,

and lakes, and programs for the restoration of rivers, streams, and lakes on

private property with a public access component.

7. To collect, and if appropriate help develop, tools for the use of TU chapters

and councils to promote programs for expanding voluntary access to private

lands for fishing, and to improve access to federal and state lands for fishing.

presented to it, and how participation in access issues is affecting the

accomplishment of TU’s mission and the implementation of its strategic plan.

Whether or not formal approval is required, each council or chapter shall keep

the Working Group informed of important developments in its access activities. If formal

approval is required, the chapter and council shall present the issues to the Working

Group in the prescribed format for approval prior to initiating any activity with respect to

the access issue in question.

The Working Group shall evaluate all proposals requiring formal approval and

make a recommendation to the Executive Committee about whether the proposed TU

participation in the access issue should be authorized. Regardless whether the

Working Group recommends participation, the Working Group shall forward its

recommendation to the Executive Committee with respect to all proposals. The

Executive Committee may identify certain categories of access participation by TU

entities that require only the approval of the Working Group, and not the approval of the

Executive Committee.

The decisions by Working Group and the Executive Committee shall be based

upon consideration of the totality of the following factors, with no one factor being

determinative:

1. Whether the access issue furthers the Vision and Mission Statements and

the Strategic Plan of TU.

2. TU’s role in the issue, particularly in light of involvement by other parties,

and the extent to which TU’s participation will contribute to a successful

outcome.

3. A good faith estimate of the costs that will be incurred in participating in

the access issue and the resources available to meet such costs.

4. The effect of TU’s participation, or lack of participation, in the access

issue on other issues important to TU and its chapters and councils.

5. Whether the participation in the access issue is supported by any other

chapters or councils that may be affected by the resolution of the issue.

6. The impact that the access issue will have on the recruitment of TU

members and its fundraising.

7. The extent to which the issue involves disputes of detailed facts requiring

resolution by a court, agency, and/or legislative committee.

8. The impact upon any other current or proposed conservation program.

The Working Group shall submit its recommendation to the Executive Committee

in writing, and the chapter or council and any dissenting members of the Working Group

shall have the right to submit comments on the recommendation. After consideration of

the recommendation and any comments submitted by the chapter, council, or dissenting

Working Group members, the Executive Committee shall vote whether to approve,

reject, or modify the recommendation. The Executive Committee shall provide in writing

the reasons for its decision.

If a member of the Working Group or of the Executive Committee has a potential

or actual conflict of interest with respect to any particular access issue under review, that

member shall disclose the conflict to the Working Group, the Executive Committee, and

the chapter or council seeking to participate in that access issue. If the Working Group

(with respect to one of its members) or the Executive Committee (with respect to one of

its members) concludes that the member has a conflict of interest in the outcome of the

access issue, that member shall not participate in the consideration of the chapter or

council’s request.

This policy does not apply to chapter or council involvement in disputes or

controversies concerning the scope of environmental protection statutes and laws,

including the Clean Water Act, the public trust doctrine, and a variety of state statutes,

even if such a controversy implicates the scope of the concept of navigability or similar

concepts, so long as the dispute or controversy explicitly relates only to environmental

protection and not to public access. If the public’s right to access is in any way a part of

such a dispute or controversy, or if the law regarding public access rights is likely to be

affected by the outcome of the dispute or controversy, the chapter or council shall

consult with the Working Group, and the Working Group shall decide whether this policy

applies. This policy also does not prohibit efforts by TU chapters or councils to enforce

any written conservation or access easements that they might hold. Any litigation to

which this policy does not apply, however, is still subject to the review process set out in

TU’s litigation policy.

Neither this policy, nor approval of any chapter or council participation in any

stream access issue, should be interpreted as including any commitment of TU funds or

staff time towards any specific access issue.