A state supreme court judge says a canoeist had the right to paddle down an Adirondack stream crossing private land, and has ordered the landowner to stop posting signs denying paddlers access to the waterway.
The Brandreth Park Association had sued Phil Brown of Saranac Lake after he wrote an article in the Adirondack Explorer newspaper in 2009 about canoeing from Lake Lila to Little Tupper Lake. Brown used the Mud Pond waterway across Brandreth land, despite the landowner's no-trespassing sign and cable across the stream.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation sided with Brown in the case, saying the stream is navigable and thus paddlers have the legal right to use it. The trial-level judge agreed Tuesday.
The stream is in a wilderness canoe-camping area 115 miles northwest of Albany.
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