Forest floats user fee for Hells Canyon boaters

Boaters who enter the wild and scenic section of the Snake River in Hells Canyon may soon have to pay a user fee, according to a proposal from the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

The agency is floating a $5-10 fee that would be used to bolster agency budgets for maintenance of recreation and historic sites in the canyon as well as measures to improve health and safety of visitors, and to increase the number of float and jet boat patrols there.

It would be charged per person and cover them for the length of their trip – whether it lasts a single day or several days.

Jake Lubera, deputy ranger at the forest’s Wallowa Mountain Office in Enterprise, Oregon, said the fee as proposed would generate an estimated $170,000-350,000 annually, depending on use levels and the amount charged. It would apply to a 70-mile stretch of river between Cache Creek Ranch and Hells Canyon Dam.

“We recognize how important this river corridor is to both our local communities and visitors. However, we are seeing a decline in our ability to keep up with normal operations,” Lubera said.

“With this proposed investment from those who use the river we will be able to maintain the sites to the level and quality that people expect and invest in other needs such as education and safety.”

He said there is a $1 million maintenance backlog for facilities in the canyon that the fee would help erase. He said the boat launch below Hells Canyon Dam was damaged by a storm and needs to be repaired, while the water system at Pittsburg Landing needs work.

Money generated by the fee could also be used to pay for interpretation of historical sites.

Outfitters and their employees would not have to pay the fee but their customers would.

People floating the lower Salmon River – which exits into the Snake River upstream of Cache Creek – would not be charged, nor would people using the river to reach private property surrounded by the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.

Lubera said if it is approved, the fee would be phased in starting next year and 2018 – when it would likely only be charged during the primary season, which lasts from late May to early September. It could be charged year-round starting in 2019.

The agency launched a 60-day comment period on the proposal on Tuesday and will hold public meetings in several locations, including July 7 at Walla Walla Community College in Clarkston. All meetings will be from 6-8 p.m. The agency will also vet the proposal with the Oregon-based John Day-Snake River Resource Advisory Committee.

Lubera said the fee would likely not be approved without the committee’s approval.