How can I find out who owns an island?

There is a small island in the river I live on. All the boaters in the area use it for picnics. There is a rope swing, and clearing for a fire, etc. But, lately i have noticed it getting messier and messier. I would like to go and clean it up some. Put some trash cans out (chained to tree) and a shelter of some sorts would be nice too. (as we often dock there when it gets stormy). I would like to contact the owner to see how he/she would feel about it. Obviously the owner doesnt mind people using it or their would be No Trespassing signs on it (like all the other islands that are not inhabited).

Since the island does not have an address I can't look up the owner using our County Property Apprasier, so how do I go about hunting down this person?

Any ideas?

Answer:
If you know the island name, you can ask the county assessor/recorder for ownership information. If you don't know the island name you can look it up on Google Earth, which may have it labeled with the name.

Talk to your city government, or state. Tip: don't occupy/trespass any property without permission.

There is a plethora of places you can search. If you have access to a plat book (many county offices, libraries etc have these) you might be able to find the information there. Many counties have interactive mapping applications that show land ownership boundaries over an aerial photo, you might be able to zoom in on a map and have the ownership information displayed for you. If you go to a county/city assessors office they should be able to get that information for you, provided you can give them a good enough description of where the island is at so they can work out which island you're talking about.

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How can I find out who owns an island?

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