- WASHINGTON, DC (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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- The NPS manages 385 units, including national parks,
seashores, lakeshores and recreation areas. Just 87 of these units allow
motorized boating.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- "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."
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- 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.
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- "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."
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