[White-water] Waldo Lake: Oregon Marine Board is seeking comment to ban gas-powered boats.

[Cascade Canoe Club]

Some of you may have seen the Nov 5th article in the Register-Guard:
  http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/sevendays/22562199-35/story.csp
In case above link may change I am appending the article in clear text.

The Oregon State Marine Board is seeking comment by Dec. 15 on whether it 
should ban gas-powered boats and float planes from Waldo Lake:
  By mail: Send letters to June LeTarte, OSMB, P.O. Box 14145 , Salem , OR 97309
  By e-mail: osmb.rulemaking at state.or.us
  By fax: (503) 378-4597

Please, raise your voice to overcome this (hopefully final) hurdle to ban 
gas-powered boats on Waldo.

  - Horst

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State enters fray over Waldo Lake | The marine board may soon vote to ban gas-powered boats on the pristine body of water

By Diane Dietz

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Thursday, Nov 5, 2009
News: Last Seven Days: Story

Arguing under a states-rights banner, Lane County timber heir Steven Stewart 
and his father, Stub, before him  have long stalled the U.S. Forest Services 
20-year effort to banish gas-powered boats from pristine Waldo Lake.

But now the state is exercising its right to regulate the lake by proposing a 
gas-powered motorboat ban thats just like the Forest Services sidelined 
proposal.

The five-member state Marine Board will decide at its Jan. 14 meeting whether 
gas-powered motorboats will be allowed to ply the lake in the high Cascades 
east of Oakridge.

The marine board is seeking public input and will convene in Lane County on 
Nov. 23 to hear testimony on the issue. If the board approves a ban in January, 
its likely to take effect upon snow melt in Spring 2010, said Randy Henry, the 
boards policy analyst.

Motors are contrary to the vision and type of experience some people want to 
create for this area, according to a Marine Board staff report. The mere idea 
of a motor is upsetting to some users who seek a wilderness experience on the 
water, on the trails around the lake, or in the adjacent developed campgrounds.

Waldo Lake is immensely popular with kayakers, canoers and all manner of other 
boat paddlers, along with campers. About 5 percent of Waldos visitors use boats 
with gas-powered engines, according to Forest Service documents.

Stewart and his Portland-based attorney, James Mountain Jr., could not be 
reached for comment Wednesday.

In recent years, Stewart told The Register-Guard that the states-rights issue 
was important to him  and that he would abide by a ban if thats what the state 
Marine Board decided.

He also said a ban would violate the rights of the disabled  including himself 
in old age  because the disabled would lose access to the lake without a gas 
motor to propel them. His critics have responded that the disabled can use 
electric motors, which would be allowed.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski gave impetus to the proposed motorboat ban by the Marine 
Board. He ordered the Marine Board to work with the Forest Service to clear the 
way for the ban. Waldo Lake is surrounded on all sides by Forest Service 
property, but whether the lake itself is controlled by the federal government 
or the state has long been disputed. The Stewart family has fought the Forest 
Service to a standstill in recent years with arguments that the Forest Service 
doesnt have legal standing to regulate the lake, and that the state controls 
the body of water.

The governor strongly supports the Marine Boards proposed rule to ban (gas) 
motors on Waldo, Kulongoski spokesman Rem Nivens said Wednesday.

The Marine Board is appointed by the governor to set state boating policy, 
provide safety education and enforce marine laws.

The board delegates the enforcement of marine laws to county sheriff marine 
patrols and to the Oregon State Police, Henry said. He wasnt immediately able 
to say what penalty a violator of the proposed ban would face.

The Forest Service was pleased with the Marine Boards proposal, spokeswoman 
Judy McHugh said. This is going to offer the opportunity that many folks in the 
public have requested, so that we can have a wider spectrum  a greater 
diversity  of recreation opportunities on the forest, she said.

The Forest Service first drew up plans calling for Waldo Lake as a quiet site 
in 1990.

The agency eventually designated the lake as a semiprimitive, nonmotorized 
place where the public can experience tranquility.

The agency never succeeded in putting a gas-engine ban in place. It did, 
however, set a 10 mph speed limit that deters many gas-motorboat owners from 
using the lake.

In 2000, Steven Stewarts father, Stub Stewart, the late founder of the 
now-defunct Eugene-based lumber company Bohemia Inc., successfully stopped the 
Forest Services initial ban on gas-powered motorboats. He argued that the 
federal government had no authority to impose the ban.

In 2007, the Forest Service again adopted a ban  to take effect in the summer 
of 2009. The rules still allowed electric-powered motor boats.

Steven Stewart took up his fathers fight and successfully sued the Forest 
Service in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

Last July, Judge Michael Hogan ruled the Forest Service acted improperly in 
adopting the ban. Motorboats were still legal at Waldo through the summer.

The McKenzie Flyfishers appealed Hogans ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of 
Appeals. The non-profit group entered the ongoing case in support of the Forest 
Service. The Forest Service was within its rights when it regulated surface 
uses of Waldo Lake, said Pete Frost, attorney with the Western Environmental 
Law Center, who represents the fishing group.

If the Marine Board adopts the ban, Frost said his client will consider asking 
for dismissal of the case.

Well see which one of these two trains gets into the station first. Either way 
whether the route is the state Marine Board enacting a ban or the Ninth Circuit 
deciding (the Forest Service) was within its right  either way, its a good 
thing for the future, our future and the future of the lake.

The environmental group Oregon Wild, also party to the case, likes the Marine 
Boards proposal. This is the best scenario we can hope for protection of the 
lake. Its encouraging to see that the governors office has pursued it, because 
clearly its what lake users want.

HOW TO COMMENT

The Oregon State Marine Board is seeking comment by Dec. 15 on whether it 
should ban gas-powered boats and float planes from Waldo Lake. Heres how to 
comment:

By mail: Send letters to June LeTarte, OSMB, P.O. Box 14145, Salem, OR 97309

By e-mail: osmb.rulemaking at state.or.us

By fax: (503) 378-4597

How to testify

Additionally, the marine board is seeking testimony on the subject. Heres where 
and when:

Nov. 23: 6 p.m. at Lane County Public Works, 3040 N. Delta Highway, Eugene

Dec. 10: 6 p.m. at Bend Fire and Rescue Training Center, Classroom 1, 63377 
Jamison Road, Bend
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