Lake Powell Might Boot Water Scooters

Sun., Jan. 25, 1998

Associated Press

Federal managers of Lake Powell, one of the West’s premier watersports playgrounds, are considering banning personal watercraft from portions of the Utah-Arizona lake.

The proposal follows a long discussion over the impacts of the small, fast and highly maneuverable craft,

This month, the Park Service plans to publish in The Federal Register details of a proposed rule allowing superintendents at the 97 national parks and recreation areas with navigable waterways to regulate PWC, either by restrictions or outright prohibition.

“The parks do not have a mechanism for determining the appropriateness of PWC to their areas, as with bicycles and snowmobiles,” said Dennis Burnett of the Park Service Ranger Activities Division.

The Park Service initiative is only the latest in a regulatory crackdown on the estimated 1.2 million PWC in the United States today. At least 43 states, including Utah, have implemented some type of legislation or regulation directed at their use.

“In recent years, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area has received more complaints from park visitors dealing with PWC than any other issue,” said Superintendent Joe Alston.

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