185 



Because of my work, I have been in 

 regular contact with river runners across 

 the nation for about 20 years now, and I 

 have found that many river runners who 

 otherwise would have run this river have 

 never done so, because of the motors. 

 There is no real controversy on this 

 point— river runners universally agree 

 that jetboats are a hazard and an imposi- 

 tion. So the jetboats definitely have the 

 effect of keeping many non-motorized 

 boaters away from this river altogether. 



Now let's look at the larger picture- 

 where this river fits into the national 

 scheme of things. The fact is that there 

 are only ten major multi-day Whitewater 

 river trips in the entire United States, all 

 of them located in Idaho, Oregon, Utah, 

 and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. People 

 from Colorado drive to Idaho or Utah for 

 a multi-day river trip, there being none 

 left in Colorado. In the midwestem and 

 eastern states, and in California, there 

 are no multi-day rivers at all, and in fact 

 there aren't even many good day-trip 

 rivers left. Hells Canyon is one of the few 

 multi-day rivers in the entire nation. It is 

 a priceless resource, highly valued by 

 people in all 50 states. 



Now, it so happens that on all of these 

 ten multi-day river trips, the federal 

 government has a strict permit-system in 

 effect. People wait for five to ten years for 

 a noncommercial river running permit for 

 the Grand Canyon. They apply annually 

 to permit lotteries for the rivers in Utah, 

 Idaho and Oregon, filling out forms and 

 paying money just for a chance in a 

 lottery. 



The purpose of these permit systems is 

 to limit the number of people who run 

 the river— to avoid overcrowding, by only 

 allowing a handful of parties to launch 

 each day on each river. In other words, 

 the purpose is to preserve a semblance of 

 peace and quiet on the river, so that 

 people can enjoy the river and the sur- 

 rounding scenery with some peace and 

 quiet. 



Snake River -- 2 



This river has such a permit system-- 

 for non-motorized boaters only. The 

 quiet, slow-moving non-motorized boat- 

 ers are restricted and must apply in 

 advemce for one of the scarce permits--in 

 order to preserve the peace and quiet of 

 the river. But the loud, fast-moving, 

 hazardous jetboats roar up and down the 

 river essentially at will. 



So under the present system, if a non- 

 motorized boater is denied a permit, he 

 must forego a visit to the river— suppos- 

 edly in order to preserve the peace and 

 quiet of the river— knowing that while he 

 stays home, jetboats are roaring up and 

 down the river at will. And if he does ob- 

 tain a permit, instead of running the 

 river with the peace and quiet that the 

 permit system was supposed to preserve, 

 instead he has to deal with the noise and 

 intimidation of jetboats throughout his 

 trip. 



The senselessness and kookiness of 

 this system is blatant. Obviously, if the 

 non-motorized boaters are required to 

 curtail their access to the river in order 

 to preserve the peace and quiet, certainly 

 the jetboaters should also be so required. 



The solution to this situation is obvi- 

 ous, and has already been proposed by 

 the Forest Service: To dedicate non- 

 jetboat "windows", periods of several 

 days, long enough for non-motorized 

 boaters to get down the river with the 

 peace and quiet that the system is 

 supposed to be preserving. 



That sort of system is the solution, and 

 with that said, there really is nothing else 

 to say. 



Thank you for this opportunity to 

 comment. 



Sincerely, 



Eric Leaper 



Executive Director 



The National Organization for Rivers. 



