Source: https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Wiki/access:wa
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 18:24:59+00:00

Document:
In Washington, the public has a right to use streams that are capable of floating a “bolt of shingles” during high flows. While a bolt of shingles is not large, this test does eliminate some smaller streams capable of being floated in a kayak. Washington does not recognize a right to portage across private land.
Washington generally uses the federal test of navigability to determine all navigable waters within the state because the state owns the beds of all navigable rivers.1) Navigable waters include only such waters capable of navigation for general commercial purposes.2) Commercial purposes include floating shingle bolts3) down the river, but do not include “every small creek in which a fishing skiff or gunning canoe can be made to float at high water.”4) A stream that had only been used for transportation by small boats for pleasure was determined to be non-navigable.5) Since shingle bolts are smaller than saw logs, the required capacity of the water under Washington's test is somewhere between the log test and the recreational boating test.
The State Scenic River system was established to recognize that many rivers possess outstanding natural, scenic, historic, ecological, and recreational values of present and future benefit to the public, and that a need exists to protect and preserve the natural character of such rivers and to fulfill other conservation purposes.19) Rivers within the State Scenic River system include specified sections of the Skykomish, Beckler, Tye, and Little Spokane.20) Declaration of a Green River Gorge Conservation Area21) and Yakima River Conservation Area22) recognize a need to conserve these areas for the recreational needs of the region.
1) Kemp v. Putnam, 288 P.2d 837, 839 (Wash. 1955), overruled on other grounds by Save a Valuable Environment v. City of Bothell, 576 P. 2d 401 (Wash. 1978). See also Wash. Const. Art. XVII, § 1. The federal title test is the test that determines which beds to which states retained title at statehood.
2) , 10) Kemp, 288 P.2d at 839.
3) Monroe Mill Co. v. Menzel, 77 P. 813, 815 (Wash. 1904). A shingle bolt is a bundle of wooden shingles.
4) Griffith v. Holman, 63 P. 239, 241 (Wash. 1900), citing Rowe v. Granite Bridge Corp., 21 Pick. 344 (38 Mass. 344 (Mass. 1838).
5) Griffith, 63 P. at 240.
6) Kemp, 288 P.2d at 840.
7) Kemp, 288 P.2d at 840, citing Monroe Mill Co., 77 P. at 815.
8) Sumner Lumber & Shingle Co. v. Pacific Coast Power Co., 131 P. 220, 222 (Wash. 1913).
9) Kemp, 288 P.2d at 840, citing favorably New York ex rel. Erie R. Co. v. State Tax Com., 266 A.D. 452 (N.Y. App. Div. 1943).
12) Id. See also Monroe Mill Co., 77 P. at 816.
13) Griffith, 63 P. at 244.
14) Monroe Mill Co., 77 P. at 816.
15) Id. See also Sumner Lumber & Shingle Co., 131 P. at 223.
16) Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.52.010 (2007).
17) Wash. Rev. Code § 79A.60.470 (2007).
18) Wash. Rev. Code § 79A.60.495 (2007).
19) Wash. Rev. Code § 79A.55.005 (2007).
20) Wash. Rev. Code § 79A.55.070 (2007).
21) Wash. Rev. Code § 79A.05.700 (2007).
22) Wash. Rev. Code § 79A.05.750 (2007).

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