Non-meandered bodies of water are now reopened to the public… unless a landowner declares otherwise.
That comes after the state legislature convened for a special session to tackle an over 25 year old issue. Several sloughs flooded in Northeastern, South Dakota, after years of heavy rain and snowfall in the 1990’s.
Following a recent state Supreme Court decision, the legislature crafted what the Governor calls a compromise between landowners and sportsmen.
After several committee meetings and amendments the South Dakota state legislature passed legislation that some say balances property rights with recreational use on non-meandered bodies of water.
Non-meandered bodies of water are lakes that formed after the state was surveyed. Accesses to these bodies of water were closed off following a state Supreme Court decision earlier this year.
The bill passed by the legislature re-opens these bodies of water for recreational use, but with landowner permission.
Frank James is a Day County commissioner and landowner. He says the legislation still leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
“What do we do about the taxation on the land that’s under water? We’re still being penalized for that. There’s going to be a lot of work to do," James says. "This is actually really a start… I guess I’d be satisfied to say it’s a good start, but I’m still going to be interested to see what transpires after this.”
The bill has an emergency clause, meaning it went into effect the moment Governor Dennis Daugaard signed it. The bill has a sunset provision for the end of June in 2018, which will force the legislature to take a closer look at the bill next session.
Daugaard says he wished the sunset provision would last longer.
“We’d like to see how all that works out in practice, but the fact of the matter is we won’t have that luxury," Daugaard says. "We’ll have to examine the information with what we have that’s available and act upon it.”
The legislation gives Game, Fish, and Parks the ability to negotiate with landowners for access to closed off water over their property.
It also makes pay-to-fish a class 1 misdemeanor.