Usually deemed 'navigable waterways', waterfront property owners only own property up to the highwater mark. A classic example of this is medford lakes, nj. I know of no case where the water OR the land under the water is owned by the lakefront property owner EXCEPT in cases where lakes are owned collectively by residents but this is just a special case of my first point 'A lake entirely on someone's property is owned entirely by the property owner'. You can build a mailbox on your property for receiving US mail, but as soon as you do, that mailbox belongs to the federal government). They're usually deemed the property of the lakefront property owner, but MAY actually be claimed by the state (something like a mailbox. Private docks and landings are usually permissable by the state, but their ownership once built gets fuzzy. Lakefront property is owned up to the water's edge. This is true in some cases but not in others.Ī lake entirely on someone's property is owned entirely by the property owner.

The water is available for anyone to use as acess but the land under the water is a whole different story. There is a lot more indepth explanation at the link and a lot of info. It said that some deeds are drawn up where the person's 'land' goes all the way to the center of the river or whatever, but this isn't technically legal. Of course check with local or state parks to make sure the parks themselves don't have laws or ordinances against MDing.īasically if there is a 'navigable' (and the SC is vague on what they consider to be navigable, but basically if you can take a kayak down it, its navigable) river you want to preform 'recreational activities' in and surrounded by Private land (so no parks, management/historical areas) as long as you can get to that land via public access you have every right to be there. are No-No's and boundaries are marked on maps, but after that its open to recreational activities. Obviously a Wildlife management area, state park, national park, DNR land, etc. This was always I question I had was who owns the river?

This is a Supreme Court ruling and it can be vague at times about state rights and what changes the states can and can not change, but for the most part rivers are 'Public Domain' and are open for 'non destructive recreational activities'. I thought this article might interest a lot of you that MD in the rivers and creeks.

Who owns tidal