Posted May 15th, 2008 by Kurt Repanshek
Are Jet Skis, also known as Personal Watercraft, appropriate for national seashores and national lakeshores? Photo by Will Pate via Flickr.
Motorized recreation in America's national parks long has been a controversial topic, with groups that back snowmobiles, personal watercraft, all-terrain and off-road vehicles maintaining they have a right to head to the parks with their machines to play. Many conservation groups, however, point to these uses as inappropriate because of their noise and pollution and the resource damage they can inflict.
Today, in an action sure to inflame some national park visitors, Friends of the Earth and The Wilderness Society sued the National Park Service to reinstate bans against personal watercraft at Gulf Islands National Seashore and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Just eight years ago the National Park Service concluded that Jet ski use was a “controversial, recreational” activity and inappropriate in most areas of the National Park System. The agency deemed Jet skis, aka personal watercraft, “high performance vessels designed for speed and maneuverability and are often used to perform stunt-like maneuvers.”
When the Park Service back then to ban PWCs from Gulf Islands, it said in part that “PWC use poses considerable threats to estuarine flora and fauna, pollutes waters essential to estuarine and marine health, poses unacceptable risks of injury to operators and bystanders, and conflicts with the majority of other longstanding uses of the Seashore.”
And yet, in 2006 the Park Service changed course and began finalizing regulations to allow the water toys back into these park units.
According to TWS and Friends of Earth, these reversals violate both the 2006 Park Service Management Policies and a settlement agreement reached in 2001 by the Park Service and Bluewater Network, which is a division of Friends of the Earth.
“The decisions to re-open Gulf Islands and Pictured Rocks to Jet skis appear to be based on politics, not sound science,” said Danielle Fugere of Friends of the Earth. “Eight years ago, the Park Service concluded that Jet skis are dangerous and cause environmental harm, yet, without any new evidence, the Park Service changed course to allow jet skis back into these sensitive parks. "
Over at The Wilderness Society, Kristen Brengel says "the National Park Service has lost sight of its mission. The agency should have upheld its mission the conserve park resources and restored the protections for Pictured Rocks and Gulf Islands by reinstating the prohibitions on jet skis. We need to make sure the Interior Department and National Park Service serves the American public by ensuring these places are safe and protected.”
Both Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar have said that science will guide agency decisions, and yet that doesn't seem to be the case in PWC-related matters nor, for that matter, in snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park..
Here are some of their words from 2006, voiced when the Park Service launched its Centennial Initiative:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Starting this month, personal watercraft -- often referred to by the trade name "Jet Skis" -- will be banned in most National Parks. Already excluded from Everglades National Park, PWC use will be banned immediately in Biscayne National Park and Canaveral National Seashore. The ban will be phased in over two years at Gulf Island National Seashore.
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A ban on personal watercraft
I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment.
Starting this month, the National Park Service bans the use of personal watercraft in national parks. While some areas will be excluded, two of Florida's national park areas will see an outright ban (Sevy)...
"Personal water craft are going to be prohibited throughout the National Park System unless we specify, specifically, that it's appropriate."
The Park Service's Elaine Sevy says the personal watercraft ban is the first system-wide effort to regulate "mechanized recreation..."
"It's really expanding greatly, and as far as the National Park System, we do have to weigh the impacts of these kinds of activities and allow them where they are appropriate but also take into consideration other visitor uses that may conflict."
Those conflicting uses, along with protection of natural resources, led to the personal watercraft ban (Sevy)...
"What we've done is take a very prudent approach to this issue that would allow some of the use of the watercraft in some places yet protect park values and reduce visitor conflicts."
For more information, visit floridaenvironment.com. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by a grant from the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education.
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Park Service Bans Jet Skis in Five Parks
WASHINGTON, DC, April 17, 2002 (ENS) - The National Park Service has decided to uphold a Clinton administration agreement that will permanently ban personal watercraft, also known as jet skis, from five national parks. To the dismay of some conservation groups, however, the agency also ordered 16 parks to reopen their reviews of the effects of watercraft before barring the vehicles.
On Tuesday, the Park Service (NPS) announced that it will comply with its own final Personal Watercraft (PWC) Rule, as well as a court sanctioned settlement agreement with conservation groups, and permanently close the waters of five national park units to jet skis as of April 22, 2002.
Many personal watercraft use two stroke engines that cause air and water pollution. (Photo courtesy Jet Products)
Another eight parks will also close their borders to jet skis on April 22, but may have to allow the watercraft back in after a supplemental review is performed. At an additional eight parks, jet skis must be banned by September 15 unless special rules are put in place regarding their continued use.
"We are pleased with the Park Service's decision to abide by our court order and close these 13 parks to jet skis," said Sean Smith, public lands director for Bluewater Network and a former park ranger. "However, this may be a hollow victory if the Department of Interior undermines the professional judgement of its superintendents and forces jet skis back into parks where they have been found to damage park resources and wildlife."
Personal watercraft are small vessels that use an inboard motor powering a water jet pump as their primary source of power, and are operated by persons sitting, standing or kneeling on the vessel. Jet ski is a trademark name for one type of personal watercraft.
The NPS manages 385 units, including national parks, seashores, lakeshores and recreation areas. Just 87 of these units allow motorized boating.
As of April 22, no jet skis will be allowed in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border. (Three photos courtesy NPS)
A final NPS rule that went into effect on April 20, 2000, prohibited personal watercraft use in all but 21 national park areas. The rule established a two year grace period following the publication of the final rule to give the superintendents of the 21 park areas time to consider whether jet ski use should continue, based on the legislation establishing that park, the park's resources and values, other visitor uses of the area, and overall management objectives.
At five of those parks, the superintendents decided that jet skis should be banned, and the NPS has now agreed. The five sites scheduled for permanent closure to jet skis include: Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts; Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Indiana; Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area along the New Jersey/Pennsylvania border; Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia; and Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in California.
But in at least two other park areas, the NPS has ordered park superintendents to conduct additional reviews of jet ski bans that are already in place. Affidavits filed by the NPS in response to a lawsuit brought by the jet ski industry show that the superintendents at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina and Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida and Mississippi will have to reopen a planning process that has already concluded that jet skis are damaging park resources and wildlife.
"Jet ski damage and safety hazards have been well documented in many National Parks," said Kristen Brengel of the Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, "While the Park Service is making the right move by implementing the deadlines, we are concerned that several parks will be forced to overturn prior decisions and allow jet ski mayhem into these special places."
A December 2000 settlement agreement in a lawsuit filed by the Bluewater Network stipulated that if any of these 21 park units were to allow jet ski use to continue past court ordered deadlines, each unit would have to issue park specific regulations, including environmental assessments of jet ski impacts on park resources.
Curecanti National Recreation Area in Colorado must ban personal watercraft in September unless new rules are issued by the park.
The settlement further extended the deadline until September 2002 for eight park units. If special regulations are not completed by these deadlines, jet skis must be banned until their work is complete.
"We are committed to protecting the National Park System's cultural and natural resources, so if personal watercraft are allowed at a site, it may be restricted to certain areas of that site," said NPS deputy director Randy Jones. "For example, at Padre Island National Seashore in Texas, the protection of the endangered Kemps Ridley sea turtle nesting areas will be a major contributing factor in determining appropriate management of personal watercraft use."
However, environmentalists are particularly concerned about the ban at Padre Island National Seashore, where as recently as five days ago, it appeared that the NPS would allow a jet ski ban favored by the superintendent to go forward. Now, jet skis could be allowed back in the park based on additional reviews ordered by the NPS.
"With strong public support, the superintendents at Cape Lookout, Gulf Islands and Padre Islands national seashores had announced their intent to ban Jet Skis in order to stem the threats these machines pose to park resources and visitors," noted Steven Bosak, director of motorized use programs at the National Parks Conservation Association. "Today's announcement shows that when political pressure is applied by a small, elite user group, this administration is willing to dismiss the best judgment of the professional, seasoned managers who work to protect parks for the majority of visitors."
At Gateway National Recreation Area in New York and New Jersey, jet skis will be banned on April 22, but could be allowed back in after additional reviews.
The personal watercraft industry argues that new, cleaner engines make jet skis far less noisy, and less damaging to the environment. According to studies cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, two-stroke engines like those used in most personal watercraft discharge 25 to 30 percent of their fuel unburned into the water.
"We're not saying that personal watercraft should be allowed in every park," said Monita Fontaine, executive director of the Personal Watercraft Industry Association (PWIA). "Clearly, each park is unique, and motorboats may not be appropriate in some environments. But we are confident that objective, scientific studies will find that today's personal watercraft have come a long way from those sold just five years ago and are among the most environmentally friendly motorboats on the water."
For a list of all parks affected by the Park Service announcement
