Personal Watercraft Curbs Not Enough?

Sun., Sept. 13, 1998

From Staff

Environmental groups are criticizing a proposed National Park Service ban on personal watercraft that would exempt some areas, saying Jet Skis should be barred on all lands managed by the agency.

The ban proposed by the agency in July would cover all 54 national parks and most national park areas.

Exempted would be 11 national-park recreation areas - seven of them in the West - and national seashores in Texas and Florida, though local superintendents could add restrictions in the future. The ban would be delayed in 12 other National Park Service areas, all in the East, for up to two years.

Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area would be exempted from the ban.

“The new regulations will not stop Jet Skis at our national parks. It will only slow down their growth,” said Russell Long, director of Bluewater Network, a San Francisco environmental group.

At a news conference, Long and other activists said the park service should enact an immediate and total ban across the board. Personal watercraft are dangerous, noisy polluters that harm wildlife, they said.

“Jet Skis destroy the ability for others to enjoy the national parks,” said Thomas Kiernan, president of the National Parks and Conservation Association.

“There’s just nowhere to escape these things now.”

But agency spokesman David Barna said Jet Skis are appropriate in some areas the National Park Service manages - particularly at large reservoirs such as Lake Mead in Nevada, where the devices are popular with tourists.

John Donaldson, executive director of the Personal Watercraft Industry Association in Washington, D.C., said the rule should not prohibit personal watercraft in areas where high-speed motorboating is allowed.

Americans own 1.2 million personal watercraft, with sales running at about 200,000 a year.

In announcing the proposed ban, the National Park Service said personal watercraft leak oil and gas, are “often operated in an aggressive manner” and are the subject of frequent complaints about noise and unsafe operation.

The agency is expected to publish the proposed rules this week and then take public comment for 60 days. The rules are not expected to take effect until after next summer.

Meanwhile, several state and local governments are considering or have approved personal-watercraft restrictions.

In July, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld the right of San Juan County commissioners to ban Jet Skis in the San Juan Islands at the north end of Puget Sound.

STILL ALLOWED National Park Service areas in the West where personal watercraft would still be allowed: Bighorn Canyon NRA, Montana Glen Canyon NRA, Utah Golden Gate NRA, California Lake Mead NRA, Nevada Lake Meredith NRA, Texas Lake Roosevelt NRA, Washington Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity NRA, California

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