Hells Canyon Runner Mad As Devil At Rules He Says Limits On Jet Boating Could Put Him Out Of Business

Hells Canyon outfitter Norm Riddle worries new Forest Service rules for the continent’s deepest gorge threaten to put an end to his 30-year-old business.

Riddle is a river runner and fishing outfitter. He and his wife, Edie, co-own the only private property along the wild section of the Snake River with Pat Riddle, Norm’s first wife. They bought Kirby Bar before the law that created the Hells Canyon National Recreation Act passed Congress in 1975.

Riddle, 67, argues the Forest Service plan will allow him only four days next summer to cater to the clientele he has amassed through the years.

It calls for limiting powerboat access in the wildest 21 miles of the canyon for 24 days each summer, and adding new restrictions on jetboat use in the recreation area.

Woody Fine, area assistant ranger, oversees river management. He said his agency has no intention of putting the Riddles out of business.

“That’s not our goal whatsoever. Our goal is to come up with a managed-use strategy for the major uses in Hells Canyon and, in that context, all of the outfitters have a schedule of use,” Fine said.

By the Dec. 27 deadline, 31 parties upset with the new plan had filed formal complaints.

For Riddle, the new outfitter schedule, when mixed with the new rules against motorized use in the deepest part of the canyon, compounds the bad news. It means he can haul clients into the gorge for one three-day stretch and another single day during his peak season in July and August.

His business is built on taking fishermen into the wild parts of the canyon that begin at Sheep Creek, more than a dozen miles upriver from the Kirkwood ranch, the point where the Forest Service’s new plan will limit his commercial trips to just four days a year during his prime season.

Fine said outfitters can trade dates on their schedule to benefit their clientele. Riddle argues the new plan will put his wife’s bed and breakfast business out of commission. She has operated it at the Kirby Bar Lodge independent from the outfitter business.

The Riddles also question the requirement they turn over Edie’s calendar so Forest Service employees can verify bookings for next summer.

Riddle said he was informed he does not qualify for a private landowner’s access permit to his private property at Kirby Bar because his name was not listed on the deed in 1975.