Lake Roosevelt Future To Be Considered

A common theme rings in the public comments on plans for the future of Lake Roosevelt, National Park Service officials say.

Keep it like it is.

“People who love the lake don’t want to see it get overdeveloped or more crowded or more restricted,” said Harold Gibbs, planning coordinator for the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

“That’s a tall order, but we’re going to try.”

Vaughn Baker, superintendent of the Lake Roosevelt NRA in Grand Coulee, said many issues have already been identified at meetings held in the past few years.

Now a set of alternatives for managing the lake in the next 20 years are ready for public review.

“We’ll explain the alternatives at public open house meetings and take their comments,” Gibbs said. “Then we’ll come back with revised alternatives in the fall.”

Access to the 150-mile long lake is a big issue with people who own property along its shores, he said.

Former superintendent Gerald Tays infuriated property owners with his insistence that private docks would not be allowed along the federally managed shoreline.

The new park administration is proposing a compromise.

Park Service laws don’t give individual parks the authority to allow docks, lawns, livestock or other private uses on public lands, Gibbs said.

“On the other hand, we’ve been looking at how to provide better access to the water for communities along the lake,” he said.

One alternative would allow private developments or counties to pay for the Park Service to build a boat ramp or dock.

“This would assure the facilities are built to park standards,” Gibbs said. “They would have to be open to public use, but could address the priorities of a specific community even though they might not be a priority for the park.”

Use of personal watercraft, better known as Jet Skis, also have been a contentious issue, Gibbs said.

“A lot of people are concerned with the noise and the manner some people drive them,” he said. National parks across the country are writing policies that restrict or ban Jet Skis.

Lake Roosevelt officials are hoping for tolerance.

“We feel Roosevelt is large enough that we don’t have specific noise and congestion problems we need to control,” Gibbs said.

“We’re going to look for ways to spread use out to avoid increasing congestion, especially in the Spokane Arm.”

Similarly, the park’s alternatives would direct campers to underused campgrounds rather than expand existing facilities or build new ones.

“The Spokane Arm is the most popular section of the lake because it’s so convenient to people from Spokane,” Gibbs said. “Expanding the campgrounds at Fort Spokane and Porcupine Bay would only increase the congestion.

Last year, about 1.4 million people visited the recreation area. The number could increase to nearly 2 million in 20 years, he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SIX MEETINGS SCHEDULED Alternatives for managing the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area will be explained and possibly amended with the help of six open-house meetings in the next two weeks, the National Park Service has announced. The meetings are scheduled as follows: Monday, Coulee Dam City Hall, 4 p.m.-7 p.m.. Tuesday, Hanson Harbor, Alan and Monica Krause residence, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (Homes in this area do not have street addresses. The house is gray with a maroon garage door.) Tuesday, Kettle Falls, Lake Roosevelt NRA district office near Kettle Falls Marina, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday, Spokane, Inland Northwest Wildlife Council auditorium, 6116 N. Market St., 3 p.m.-6 p.m. March 31, Porcupine Bay boat launch parking area, 2 p.m.-3 p.m. March 31, Deer Meadows Country Club between Seven Bays and Fort Spokane, 4 p.m.-6 p.m.