No wake now rule on tiny Black Lake

In Stevens County, where politicians usually promise as few regulations as possible, commissioners have voted to restrict boating on a tiny lake.

Sixty-nine out of 71 landowners at Black Lake had signed a petition asking that the county pass a law drastically reducing the speed limit for personal watercraft and other powerboats. The lake is now a “no-wake” body of water, meaning speed is limited to 5 mph.

The petition was started by Maggie Ryland, who has lived at the lake for seven years, and has had close encounters with powerboats while swimming.

“I’ve almost been run over twice,” she said. “But there have always been grumblings (about speeding boats) among residents of the lake as long as I’ve lived here.”

Some neighbors complain about boat wakes that flood docks, she said.

Located 21 miles east of Colville along state Highway 20, Black Lake spans 70 acres. By comparison, Liberty Lake in Spokane County is about 700 acres.

Despite its small size, the lake has a public boat launch. The Black Lake Resort, which drew some customers with powerboats, closed in October.

The lake is home to red-necked grebes, a bird that lays its eggs on floating nests. Wakes can destroy the nests and erode the shoreline.

Madonna Luers, Spokane spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the fate of grebes at Black Lake has not been an issue for her agency.

“Certainly no-wake zones help; they are easier on birds that nest near the shorelines,” Luers said.

The Wildlife Department didn’t lobby for the change at Black Lake and isn’t pushing the no-wake law for larger bodies of water, Luers said.

“We don’t have any species that are a critical concern for us, where a no-wake rule would make or break it,” she said.

Black Lake is the only no-wake lake in Stevens County, which has a reputation for adopting rules only when absolutely necessary.

For instance, three times this decade, the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board has found the county out of compliance with the state’s Growth Management Act. And the county has recently joined in a lawsuit against the federal government for banning grazing on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge.

County Commissioner Malcolm Friedman says there was no dispute about lowering the speed limit on Black Lake.

“The powerboating isn’t as established there as it is with other lakes,” like Lake Roosevelt or Loon Lake, he said.

The maximum speed for boats on other Stevens County waterways is 50 mph.

The Black Lake regulation was adopted in June. Sheriff Craig Thayer said there is still discussion about the size of the penalty for violating the rule.

Signs announcing the change to boaters haven’t yet been posted.

“In the meantime,” Ryland said, “we are going to shout out to them, ‘Hey slow down!’ “