The state Supreme Court has dealt a blow to South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks, ruling the agency can't allow people access to floodwaters or ice that covers private property without legislative approval.

The agency had argued that all water was legally accessible to the public if it could be reached without trespassing on private land. And hunters and anglers had argued that all waters in the state should be accessible to the public.

The Argus Leader reports the decision stems from a lawsuit by Day County landowners and a class action against people who had been accessing two sloughs. The sloughs grew in the 1990s after heavy rains and snows, and in 2001, the public began using them for recreation, even though they were on private property.