PWC ban lifted on Lake Roosevelt
WASHINGTON – A ban on personal watercraft at the Pacific Northwest’s Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area has been lifted as of today, according to a press release Thursday from the Personal Watercraft Industry Association.
Two years after the National Park Service was required by a court settlement to begin prohibiting PWC pending the results of scientific studies regarding the vessels’ impact, Lake Roosevelt has completed the required environmental assessments and concluded that PWC are an appropriate boating activity for the National Recreation Area, the PWIA said.
“We were confident that science would once again rule over bias, and confirm that PWC have no unique impact that justifies singling them out for discriminatory bans,” said Jeff Ludwig, Regulatory Affairs manager at the PWIA. “I applaud the National Park Service for completing this process in time to allow the public to use their PWC at Lake Roosevelt for the 2004 boating season, and encourage the NPS to work as expediently as possible to finish the rulemaking process in other units currently considering allowing resumed PWC use.”
Five additional National Park Service units already welcome personal watercraft, eight units are in the final stages of the rulemaking process to re-allow the vessels, and scientific analyses on the effects of personal watercraft are currently underway at two National Seashores, according to the association.
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