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Rogue would see fewer boat tours Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Hellgate Jetboat Excursions pilot John Yanutik on Wednesday gets the 9-year-old Linda Kay in shape for this summer�s boating season. The Bureau of Land Management�s draft management plan for the middle Rogue River would put a few restrictions on the jetboats, most of which owner Robert Hamlyn says he can live with. He does take issue, however, with the BLM�s proposal to phase out his last 43-foot, 80-passenger jetboat. By Mark Freeman GRANTS PASS � Large excursion jetboats would steer clear of summer rafters on part of the middle Rogue River, and the biggest of these boats would be phased out by 2003 under a federally proposed plan meant to guide river use near Grants Pass for the next decade. These are highlights of the federal Bureau of Land Management�s long-awaited draft management plan for the river�s Hellgate Recreation Area, a 27-mile stretch of the middle Rogue federally designated for recreational values. This corridor is one of the river�s most popular playlands, drawing a mix of private and commercially guided boaters and anglers that account for more than 700,000 trips a year. Most use is centered around rafting or fishing. The draft plan�s preferred alternative doesn�t attempt to curb recreational use in this stretch of river. It also lays the framework for eventually building more campsites and boat ramps along the stretch from the mouth of the Applegate River downstream of Grants Pass to Grave Creek near Galice. The stretch includes Hellgate Canyon, a picturesque river gorge that gives the area its name. It is part of the Wild and Scenic section designated by Congress in 1968. The only significant changes proposed to current river management concern the amount of trips taken in this stretch by Hellgate Jetboat Excursions, a Grants Pass-based tour boat business that ferries about 83,000 people a year through the river�s whitewater rapids and deep pools. Under the BLM�s preferred alternative, Hellgate Excursions would cut from eight to four the number of jetboat trips through the recreation section�s lower half � the stretch from Hog Creek to Grave Creek that the BLM calls the "Dunn Reach" � on the Fourth of July and on weekends in July and August. This is designed to minimize the big boats� conflicts with rafters who flock to that area�s whitewater on hot afternoons during those summer weekends. Rafters often complain that the excursion boats push them out of channels and throw wakes that disrupt their boating experience. This change has the blessing of Hellgate Excursions owner Robert Hamlyn, who said he is willing to steer his tour boats clear of the Dunn Reach when asked and instead will ferry boaters in waters less popular with rafters. "I think it makes sense that we give up those trips because it will make it much nicer for floaters," Hamlyn said. "We�ll lose business from it, yeah, but it�s not the end of the world." But Hamlyn does take issue with a BLM proposal to phase out his last 43-foot, 80-passenger jetboat by 2003. Hamlyn said keeping the boat gives his business the chance at times to pack tourists into one larger boat instead of using two 58-seaters � a move that curbs pollution, traffic and noise, which are all key complaints cited by river-dwellers, he said. The phase-out is a minor victory of sorts for sport-fishing groups that have tried unsuccessfully to get the tour boats banned or severely limited. Separate studies done in 1994 and �95 showed the tour boats pose no added problems for juvenile salmon and steelhead, nor do they add to streambank erosion. "They�re probably too important to the economy of Grants Pass to do anything about them," said Bob Rice, president of the 340-member Middle Rogue Steelhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited. "I guess we need to live with them. "I think everybody is reasonably OK with the recommended alternative," Rice said. So far, BLM planners have received little comment on the draft since it was first unveiled in late November. "We�ve only received about six letters so far, mostly on motorized tour boat use, crowding and safety," said Cori Cooper, BLM project team leader. "We actually don�t have a clue at this point what the general public thinks about this," Cooper said. The BLM is planning public meetings tonight in Grants Pass and Jan. 24 in Medford to explain and take comments on the plans. Public comments will be taken through Feb. 24. Regardless of which direction is chosen for the Hellgate area, the BLM will monitor river use as it inevitably increases, Cooper said. However, cutbacks in recreational are unlikely until pressure reaches a point where people begin to avoid the area because of overcrowding, Cooper said. The Hellgate planning efforts began in the early 1990s and have culminated in the draft environmental impact statement now up for comment. The agency will reach its final decision by the end of 2001, Cooper said. The plan is expected to guide river management in the Hellgate area for a decade, and any new projects targeted by the plan would have to be studied and funded separately before they are completed, Cooper said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.