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CHAPTER 2 <br />BOATING ACCESS <br />As more people buy boats, the demand for access to the lakes will continue to increase. Yet the <br />development of new public access facilities is often impeded by conflicts between local residents and <br />goverranent agencies. (The sidebar below discusses some of the legal issues involved in developing <br />new sites.) This chapter examines the supply of access to metropolitan lakes and the process of <br />developing new boat launch sites. <br />PROVIDING PUBLIC BOAT ACCESS <br />Many metropolitan lakes are inaccessible to the <br />public. There are about 1,500 lakes of more than <br />10 acres in the metro area. Many of these lakes <br />are unsuitable for much recreational use. PubUc <br />boat ramps are provided on about 110 of ihem.^ <br />However, more than 20 prime recreational lakes <br />identified by the Metropolitan Water Access <br />Committee (see below) are inaccessible to the <br />public. <br />Surface use of metropolitan lakes increases <br />dramatically when public boat launch sites are <br />provided. According to a 1984 DNR survey, <br />about 80 percent of the parking spaces at public <br />boat lauiKh facilities in the metro area are <br />occupied on weekends and holidays; 40 percent <br />are occupied on weekdays.^ When public boat <br />ramps are built at a lake in the urbanized parts of <br />the metro area, boating density increases by an <br />average of 100 percent^ In rural areas of the <br />region, the provision of public access leads to <br />increases of about 50 percent Until late 1989, no <br />information was available on who these new <br />access users are, why they chose that site, or <br />WHOSE LAKE IS IT, ANYWAY? <br />A difficult question. According to a 1981 ruling <br />by the Minnesota Supreme Court, "Water in its <br />natural state is not capable of being owned <br />(emphasis added) Minnesota lakes classified as <br />"public waters" are subject to control by the state <br />for the public good. <br />So, who has the right to use the lakes and their <br />shores? Riparian property owners have rights to <br />the use and enjoyment of the body of water <br />adjoining their land. (Riparian refers to the bank <br />of a natural course of water and to owners of <br />property on the bank.) If any land adjoining a <br />lake is publicly owned, then the public has the <br />right to use the lake. The public has no right to <br />trespass on private land to obtain access to public <br />waters. If the bed of a lake is publicly owned, <br />the public has the right to walk along the <br />lakeshore below the normal and ordinary high <br />water level of the lake. <br />Pratt V. State. Department of Natural Resources. 309 NW2d 767 (1981). The Supreme Court ’s ruling <br />was in a case about mechanicial harvesting of wild rice. <br />Metropolitan Water Access Committee. "Twin Cities Metropolitan Area Public Boat Launch Guide." <br />1988. <br />Wayne Barstad and Deborah Karasov, Lake Development: How Much is Too Much? Department of <br />Natural Resources. 1987, p. 7. The survey dealt with the period between Memorial Day and Labor <br />Day. <br />Ibid.