Roosevelt Boat Ramp Use Up From Last Year

Sun., Oct. 19, 1997

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

The feeling of less elbow room on Lake Roosevelt in August was no illusion.

Visitor use at boat ramps and campgrounds in the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area was up 66 percent compared with the same month last year.

Year-to-date visitation is up only about 9 percent from the average over the past four years, said Dan Hand, National Park Service spokesman in Grand Coulee.

Anglers have suggested the big increase for August owes to forbidding water conditions during spring and early summer. A deep drawdown made boat launching virtually impossible during spring. Runoff from a record snowpack plagued the lake with high, cold water and debris almost to August.

“Everybody thought they had to do their camping thing in one month,” said Gene Smith, who lives near Fort Spokane.

Even with the big August visitation increase, the number of boat launches recorded in the recreation area has declined.

In 1994, in the period from January through August, recreation area officials estimated 80,000 boat launches.

The number dropped to 71,000 in 1995 and dropped again to 50,000 in 1996 and 50,000 this year.

Reasons for the decline in boat launches appears to be related to a number of factors, including reservoir drawdowns, weather-related conditions in early summer, and the demise of fishing.

, DataTimes

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