Source: https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Wiki/access:tx
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 18:55:20+00:00

Document:
Public waters in Texas include navigable streams, navigable natural lakes, man-made lakes created by damming a navigable stream, and tidal waters affected by tides in the Gulf of Mexico. In Texas, the public may boat, fish, swim, camp, and, in general, carry on any legal activity on navigable streams and other public waters. Texas waters are considered navigable when they are either “navigable in fact” or “navigable by statute.” When public waters in Texas flow over private land, the public may still make use of the waters (e.g., boating or fishing), but may not have legal access to privately held banks or shores. The public has no right to access public waters by way of privately-held lands.
The Texas Disaster Act of 1975, codified as Section 418 of the Texas Government Code, authorizes state and local officials to take temporary actions in the case of disasters and impending disasters. These laws most likely give state and local authorities the right to close waterways for reasons of public safety (e.g., high water, contamination, or other dangerous conditions). Actions taken under the Texas Disaster Act cannot remain in effect indefinitely from their inception, but rather are subject to certain review/renewal requirements.
1) Tex. Const., art. XVI, § 59.
2) See Welder v. State, 196 S.W. 868, 873 (Tex. Civ. App. – Austin 1917, writ ref’d).
3) Diversion Lake Club v. Heath, 86 S.W.2d 441, 445 (Tex 1935).
4) Tex. Nat. Res. Code § 21.001.
5) Mott v. Boyd, 286 S.W.458. 467-68 (Tex. 1926).
6) Id. at 445; see also Taylor Fishing Club v. Hammett, 88 S.W.2d 127 (Tex Civ. App.­ Waco 1935, writ dism’d). Under a 1929 state law, the Small Bill (Tex. Civil Revised Statutes, Article 5414a) , Texas relinquished some rights in the beds of some navigable streams to riparian owners (primarily to give these landowners the right to royalties from oil and gas located under stream beds that abutted the landowners property). The Small Bill, however, does not alter the public status of navigable streams or impair the public’s right to use of them. The Texas Attorney General has concluded that the public retains wading rights and the right to walk dry stream beds of streams falling under the Small Bill. Op. Tex. Att’y Gen. S-208 (1956).
7) Tex. Water Code § 5.021(a); Op. Tex. Att’y Gen. DM-169 (1992); Op. Tex. Att’y Gen. M-1210 (1972).
8) Diversion Lake Club, 86 S.W.2d at 446-447; Taylor Fishing Club, 88 S.W.2d 127; see also Op. Tex. Att’y Gen. DM-169 (1992).
9) Diversion Lake Club, 86 S.W.2d at 442; see also Texas Penal Code § 30.05. Criminal trespass requires some sort of notice to the accused trespasser that he is entering private property. Notice can take the form of written or oral notice from the landowner, fencing, visible signage, purple paint markings on trees, and/or crop cultivation and harvesting. Criminal trespass in Texas is a usually Class B misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $2000 and a jail term of up to 180 days. Trespass on agricultural land within 100 feed to the boundary is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. Trespass may be elevated to a Class A misdemeanor under certain conditions, e.g. if the trespasser is carrying a deadly weapon. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine of up to $4,000 and a jail term of up to one year. See Tex. Penal Code §§ 30.05(d); 12.21-12.23.
10) Diversion Lake Club, 86 S.W.2d at 446.
11) Id.; see also Tex. Nat. Res. Code, §11.012.
12) Tex. Att’y Gen LA-97-079 (1997).
13) Diversion Lake Club, 86 S.W.2d at 446-447; Taylor Fishing Club, 88 S.W.2d 127; see also Tex. Att’y Gen LA-97-079 (1997); Op. Tex. Att’y Gen. DM-169 (1992).
14) Tex. Parks & Wild. Code, § 90.007(a) (landowner rights).
16) See Tex. Penal Code §§ 30.05, 9.22.
17) Tex. Parks & Wild. Code, § 90.008.
18) Tex. Water Code § 11.096.
19) Tex. Penal Code § 42.03.
20) Tex. Nat. Res. Code § 51.302.
21) Trice v. State, 712 S.W.2d 842, 849 (Tex. App. – Waco 1986, writ ref”d n.r.e.).
22) Op. Tex. Att’y Gen. S-107 (1953).

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