When Legislation Fails
Why You Should Post Your Land!
In case it isn’t clear from the cover story, the property rights of landowners whose land is crossed or bounded by streams and small rivers in Pennsylvania are under attack . Pennsylvania has allowed itself to be maneuvered (or worse has volunteered) into asserting a claim of ownership to the Little Juniata River, including the streambed’s, and by necessary implication, hundreds of other streams which have similar physical or
legal characteristics .
This is a different situation than land with wetlands, woodlands where the Indiana Bat nests or property containing historical artifacts . With those, Pennsylvania only dictates that you can’t use the land . With streams, Pennsylvania is trying to grab the title as well, presumably because it makes it easier to provide access and use by the public (meaning anyone) if the Commonwealth is the owner and the permission of the riparian owner doesn’t have to be obtained .
Under either scenario, property rights are being destroyed and, PLA believes, taken for public use without just compensation to the owner.
Some riparian landowners might say “Why should I care? I always let people on to fish and hunt .” or “Gee, I didn’t know I owned the streambed.” The answer to these questions is that before you know it, your property rights are taken and your land has become part of some public park. It’s a little bit like the guy who hears about a recreational trail being created on a long abandoned railroad right-of-way . Who cares . Maybe you don’t . . . until strangers come tramping through your back yard over the old right-of-way. By then, the trail has taken on a life and momentum of its own and
you can’t afford to do anything about it .
If you think you can bury your head in the sand and ignore what’s going on around you, you’re sadly mistaken . All you have to do is read your back issues of the Landowner to be reminded it’s happening all around you to people just like you . These
aren’t isolated cases involving enforcement against a few odd balls or nuts . If you’ hadn’t picked up on it already, it is the modus operandi of power-hungry, land-grabbing governments . It goes like this .
Isolate and launch an attack on one target, overwhelming the target by concentrating government resources including lots of lawyers, on him . Grind him down and tie him up in costly litigation . When that target crumbles in the onslaught and knuckles under, the other similarly situated people either “keep the old head in the sand” and say it won’t happen to me or, sadly, realize its too late to do anything about it . This is what would have happened to all other landowners along the Little Juniata
River if Donny Beaver hadn’t drawn the line and resisted the Juggernaut . But the power hungry, land grabbers don’t quit .
This is where the PLA Posting Program comes in . You can push back and fight back by simply posting your land. That way you discharge your responsibility and duty as a land owner to take care of your land and as a citizen to protect your property rights. You also take a stand against the kind of regulation and enforcement that is divesting you of your rights, sometimes so gradually as to be virtually imperceptible and sometimes suddenly, like the Commonwealth sneak attack on the Little J riparian owners .
For more information regarding the Pennsylvania Landowners’s Association ‘Posting for Support Program’, please visit our posting information page or Contact Us today!
whenlegislationfails |