The right for fisherman to have access to the high water mark for recreational fishing within a river system is determined by the rivers classification of being navigatable or not.

We are gathering signatures to classify the Deschutes River system as navigatable so fisherman have legal law backing the ability to fish up to high water mark.

The definition of navigatable is determined by a few factors including commercial use (past or present) as well as the rivers ability to contain floatation devices (boats, kayaks, float tubes etc).

The Deschutes River by basic definition IS A Navigatable river system. However the state stopped doing surveys on river systems years ago.

The Deschutes survey was never done. So although by definitions the Deschutes is navigatable, it remains "non navigatable" on paper. 

Here's the issue:

when a river is classified as a navigatable river system, even with private property on both sides of the river, fisherman are legal to fish inside the river at the high water mark.

a non navigatable river, home owners can force fisherman off the river! Including those drifting through with a boat! In such cases home owners who own both sides of the river will even put a fence across the waterway preventing a boat from traveling down.

The Deschutes by definition is already nagivatable! Help us bring that classification to a legal piece of paper!

(This would excludes trible lands, as they have a separate set of defined rules about river bank access)

Thanks for your time!