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Permit rafters face toilet mandate Rule covers Rogue's wild, scenic stretch By PAUL FATTIG GALICE - Before launching a 33-mile float on the lower Rogue River's wild section this summer, make sure you have your sleeping bags, food, cold drinks and - beginning today - portable toilet. For the first time since the annual permit system began in 1978, portable toilets are mandatory. This year's permit season begins May 15 and ends Oct. 15 for the popular whitewater section between the confluence of Grave Creek to the mouth of Watson Creek. The decision to require portable toilets was the result of the number of people - some 10,000 on average - floating the section during the season coupled with a limited number of toilets in the remote river corridor, said a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District. The BLM and the Forest Service oversee management of the river section. All permit recipients making the float, from kayakers to large rafts, will be required to present portable toilets for inspection when they check in at the Smullin Visitor Center at Rand to pick up their permits, he said. The portable toilets must be reusable, waterproof and washable. Plastic bag liners will not be acceptable. The agencies have installed a machine at the takeout at Foster Bar to remove waste and clean the toilets, said Ken Vines, river manager for the Siskiyou National Forest. The machine costs $1 to operate. "If you camp near a toilet, you don't have to use your portable toilet," Vines said. "But you don't know where you will be making camp when you start out." During the permit season, daily launches at the mouth of Grave Creek are restricted to 120 people to prevent crowding. The permits are split between private and commercial boaters. Permits are made available during a lottery each winter. However, some spaces not taken during the lottery are available. For information on the permits, call the river information office at 479-3735. Listings of available dates as well as information on portable toilets can be found on the Internet at www.or.blm.gov/rand. Meanwhile, Bear Camp Road, the shuttle route used by many to pick up river runners taking out at Foster Bar, is now open. The Oregon Department of Transportation plowed the snow from the high elevations of the road last week. The route provides access between Interstate 5 at Grants Pass and Highway 101 near Gold Beach. The single-lane road is usually blocked by winter snowdrifts into June but the light snowpack of the past winter allowed it to be opened earlier, according to a spokesman for the Siskiyou National Forest. When the route is closed, shuttles must take the much longer routes to the coast via Highway 199 to the south or Highway 42 to the north. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.