The National Park Service will ban personal
watercraft by mid-September on all of its waterways except 11
national recreation areas and two national seashores. The
prohibition follows bans by individual parks, including the
Everglades in Florida, Canyonlands in Utah, and most recently
Olympic National Park in Washington, where Lake Crescent will see
its last jet skiers Oct. 1.
The agency says it
decided on strong measures because the high-speed craft, which
comprise 11 percent of registered boats, account for over 35
percent of accidents. The water toys also disturb wildlife in
shallow water and leave 25 percent of their oil and gas emissions
in the water.
In Olympic National Park, says
spokeswoman Barb Maynes, most of the 2,000 people commenting on a
ban complained that boaters used personal watercraft for thrills
rather than transportation. She says visitors don’t complain about
motorboats and highway traffic along the lake, but that noisy jet
skis destroy their park experience.
John
Donaldson, director of the Personal Watercraft Industry
Association, downplayed the new rule, saying it will affect few
owners. But he worries media reports will spook consumers and
prompt local governments to follow suit in banning jet
skis.
In Washington state, San Juan County
already took action to ban the craft, and on July 9 the state
Supreme Court upheld that decision, even though it may reduce state
income from boat registration. Martha Ireland, commissioner of
nearby Clallam County, Wash., wishes a ban could have been avoided.
“The park should have considered restricting use to certain speeds
and areas instead, like on highways,” she
says.
Commissioner Ireland hopes her county can
gain control of Lake Crescent under R.S. 2477, a 19th century
mining law that grants counties authority over public highways.
*Taffeta
Elliott
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline National parks pull the plug on jet skis.
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