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Mark Freeman Commentary Emigrant speed limit sought Anglers, canoeists want 5 mph zone in lake's narrow arms By MARK FREEMAN ASHLAND -- Speeding Jet-Ski's and still-water crappie anglers will no longer clash in the narrow, brushy arms of Emigrant Lake if local landowners and water-safety officials get their way. Following recommendations from Emigrant Lake users in recent years, Jackson County authorities are trying to enact a 5-mph speed limit for motorized boats in a small portion of the brush-laden upper arms of Emigrant Lake. The upper ends of the lake's Hall Creek and Emigrant Creek arms are a haven for still-water crappie fishermen, canoeing bird-watchers and private landowners whose back yards abut the water. People driving fast Jet-Ski's and other brands of personal watercraft and speeding in these narrow arms are causing enough safety, environmental and landowner problems to warrant the "Slow, No Wake" rules, county officials say. "After having all the public comments from before and witnessing some of the (personal watercraft) activity, I think it's a good idea," county Parks Director Paul Korbulic says. The change would affect all motorized boats, but only in the arms' far upper ends. If enacted, it would affect about 10 percent of the lake's total surface area at full pool, leaving the majority of the lake for high-performance use of personal watercraft and water-skiing boats. Jet-skiers like Rick Rapp of Central Point do not mind giving up a small portion of Emigrant Lake to reduce conflicts with fishermen. "That's no big thing, as long as that's all they do," Rapp says. "We try to keep away from the fishermen. We have to work together to have fun together." All sides of the issue will have their say Wednesday when the Oregon State Marine Board holds a public hearing on the Emigrant Lake proposal. The 7 p.m. hearing is at the Jackson County Courthouse Auditorium. The public comments will be presented to the Marine Board at its May 20 meeting in Salem. If passed, the new rules would go into effect as quickly as Memorial Day weekend, says Wayne Schuler, the Marine Board's assistant director. The proposed rule would affect the upper 90 acres of the Emigrant Creek arm and the upper 60 acres of the Hill Creek arm, Schuler says. The total lake surface is about 1,467 acres, he says. Korbulic says the proposed no-wake areas typically are dried up by mid to late summer. Setting the no-wake speed limit in the upper lake's two main arms has been bandied about since the federal Bureau of Reclamation conducted studies in the mid-1990s and created a resource management plan for the lake. The upper arm areas are laced with willows and brush, which are home for birds and fish like black crappie and bass. Anglers and bird-watchers flock to these areas in spring and early summer as well. But the same bushes create tight motoring areas and blind curves that create boating hazards, Korbulic says. Also, the wakes thrown by speeding boats can damage the shoreline habitat as well as disturb the birds and fish. "It will make the nesting birds happier, the canoeists happier and the fishermen back there happier," Korbulic says. "We're just trying to mediate that user conflict." Rapp says the area is not good for speeding boats anyway. "I'd certainly never go down there," he says. (Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470.) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA