Board of County Commissioners v. Park County Sportsmen's Ranch, LLP

Landowners James Gardner and Amanda Woodbury owned property in South Park, Colorado, under which sat natural aquifers. Park County Sportsmen's Ranch (PCSR) applied to the water court for rights to use those aquifers as underground water-storage reservoirs as part of a larger water-management plan for its own land. The Landowners and the Park County Board of County Commissioners (plaintiffs) sued, arguing that storing water under the Landowners' property without consent or payment was a trespass, and that landowners own the water and aquifers beneath their land just as they own underlying minerals. The water court ruled that storage in the aquifers was not a trespass and required neither consent nor compensation because PCSR built nothing on the surface. The Landowners appealed.