Proposed Ban on Boating Shuswap River

[skifreak67]

Good afternoon,

“The Regional District of North Okanagan intends to ban motorized vessels on most of the Shuswap River” (Kelowna Daily Courier.ca). The Regional District of North Okanagan (RDNO) and several special interest groups have been consulting and obtaining evidence to support their desire to close the river to power boats. The claim is based on safety, pollution and environmental concerns. The safety concern is not supported by any empirical evidence as there have been no boating injuries, yet numerous incidents involving tubing and canoeing over the years. The erosion concern is incomplete as the study does not account for natural meandering of a waterway and the mass of the river involved compared to boat wakes. It was prepared without knowledge of local experts. The process has been conducted without proper consultation of the residents, and even riverfront owners were not aware of this 3 year process until a Global News article just last week. If there is a real problem then we should address it, but the mandate of the RDNO is to remain neutral and obtain input from all parties, not just those looking to close the river. The open houses were not monitored and numerous people were observed spending over an hour completing multiple comment cards. RDNO has been asked to start this process over in an open and proper manner but not responded. There is a survey to be completed at RDNO.CA/BOATING. There is more information located at Facebook.com/shuswapriverrecreation The more people that complete this survey the better to help normalize the special interest groups. Once this valuable resource is gone it will be gone forever so let’s make sure that the decisions are based on fact and science, not innuendo.

Sincerely,
Shuswap River Recreation and Conservation Society

[nautiques4life]

Wow. Good luck; sounds very similar to my current situation in lake Havasu thanks to 2 kayakers.

[skiswm]

About 16 years ago, there was a push to ban motorized boating on Donner Lake. At the time the reasoning was "MTBEs are harmful for the lake." But, it was quickly pointed out MTBEs were already eliminated by gas producers. So then the push to ban was about noise and the danger boats cause with shore erosion.
With a combined effort from water skiers, fisherman, 2 large HOAs, support from the IJSBA (PWC boating assoc), and the local sheriff we were able to combat most if not all of the "research" was false/based on false science. The measure quickly died at the City Council.

As was mentioned above usually these bans are driven by people who want the lake/river to themselves for their own sporting use. Lake Tahoe banned two stroke engines in part because Steve Wynn didn't like PWCs cruising so close to his house on Lake Tahoe. He first tried to push through a ban of PWCs saying they were too loud, after noise testing took place it was determined his own boat was louder than any PWC on the lake.

The other part to this we (boaters) found was it's really important to be a courteous boater- don't blast your stereo at 7/8am, stay clear of fisherman, don't power through turns causing large wakes/rollers, follow the rules of the lake/river if there's a one way flow or speed limit, and most importantly let fellow boaters know if they're doing something wrong that could jeopardize boating for all on the lake.