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otterend
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  Quote otterend Replybullet Topic: Goodbye SKY? River Access
    Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 8:26am
American Whitewater is warning us that our river access is threatened. Go to www.americanwhitewater.org to read more ... AND TAKE THE SHORT TIME TO SEND A LETTER TO YOUR LEGISLATOR, IT REALLY, TRULY DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE ...

"The legislative session is underway in Washington State and earlier this week we were shocked to learn of a bill that would severely limit access to the state's rivers and shorelines. Specifically the bill would prohibit water access on small parcels of public land unless the managing agency provides a formal river access site and parking lot.
While we support the development of river access sites and designated parking at sites where use levels justify the investment, many of the thousands of river access sites across the state that are used by paddlers and fishermen are informal access points at street ends, within bridge right-of-ways, and on small parcels of public land. Under the proposed legislation, public land managers would be required to post signage that public access to the water is prohibited on small parcels of public land without formal parking that currently provide access to our state's waterways. Violators would be charged with a misdemeanor. If enacted, this would result in the loss of key access points we actively use on rivers like the Nooksack, Skykomish, Middle Fork Snoqualmie, Wind, Washougal, Wenatchee, Tilton, White Salmon and many others across the state.

This legislation is all the more surprising when one considers the economic impact of outdoor recreation in Washington State. A report on the Economic Impacts of Outdoor Recreation published earlier this month by Earth Economics for the State of Washington found a $21.6 billion economic impact from outdoor recreation supporting nearly 200,000 jobs, with over one third of that activity occurring along water. These benefits will not be realized if the public can't get to the water.

We encourage our members in Washington State to reach out to their state representatives to express their thoughts on this legislation (Find Your Legislator).

Edited by otterend - 24 Jan 2015 at 8:31am
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mikefromTX
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  Quote mikefromTX Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 8:31am
What the actual fu*k? What is with politicians and taking a problem that doesn't exsist, and turning into a crime? I imagine this will piss of a lot of anglers as well.
Mike Smith
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huckin harms
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  Quote huckin harms Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 9:15am
This is a short statement of opposition to the bill 1056
Copy and paste, improve upon, please write your representative!

"I strongly urge you to vote no on the HB 1056. This bill would seek to reverse decades of free public access to waterways used by recreationalist, fisherman, kayakers, and others who seek solace near so many of WA beautiful waterways. HB1056 is the wrong way to address the issues surrounding access to waterways. It would make it a misdemeanor to use many pullouts near the Wallace River, Sultan river, Skykomish rivers and various other tributaries. Clearly this bill would fail to meet public acceptance."
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SOPBOATER
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  Quote SOPBOATER Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 11:08am
Is this tied to the railroads opposition and apparently legal right to make crossing the tracks a trespass? I know allot of conflict occurred this last year between railroad security and anglers.
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  Quote Ellingferd Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 12:35pm
While I don't want to come across as a "sky is falling" paranoid shut-in, this bill is f**king crazy. I refuse to be charged a misdemeanor for accessing a river on public lands, regardless of the transportation used to get there. Which, by the way, highlights the strange nature of a parking lot being necessary. Can I just walk up to a river on public lands? Will that be ok? Who the fu*k is this asshat from Richland and who is paying him for this bullsh*t? Everyone should spread as much word about this as possible outside of the boating community to get this thing in the trash as soon as possible.
Wave Sport
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  Quote Ellingferd Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 12:36pm
This is the fast track to Colorado style access issues.
Wave Sport
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irenen
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  Quote irenen Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 12:51pm
Here is the 'Find Your Legislator' link, I don't know if I can hyperlink it though with the new hyperlink thing on here, if not you can copy and paste into your browser:

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/


I have no words for what I think of this. I would rather see my tax money flushed directly down the toilet than to see it go to pay people to come up with this kind of crap. Thanks American Whitewater for keeping us informed.

Edited by irenen - 24 Jan 2015 at 12:57pm
It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.
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irenen
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  Quote irenen Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 2:10pm
OK I put together a letter in case anyone wants to use it.  If so feel free to edit it if you want, just whatever you do PLEASE write to your legislators.   Harms, thanks for starting the letter stuff off.

Download letter in Word 97 format so you can open it in 97-2003 or newer, editable so add date, name and address, and rep name - link below:

https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D7530806_77110605_6717081

Download letter in Adobe pdf format in case you don't have Word so you can print it and write in date, name/address, rep name - link below:

https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D7530806_77110605_6717066

Find your legislator here:

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

Tom O'Keefe says letters should go to the legislative (state) reps, not congressional.

I totally understand that you all know how to write letters but this stuff takes time, just this letter took me over an hour, so if this makes it easier for anyone who wants to write but is pressed for time, then great.  Please feel free to edit, share, etc.

SYOTR - maybe...



Edited by irenen - 24 Jan 2015 at 2:32pm
It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.
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ChristianKnight
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  Quote ChristianKnight Replybullet Posted: 24 Jan 2015 at 8:01pm
Thanks Irene for rallying the paddlers.

Edited by ChristianKnight - 24 Jan 2015 at 8:02pm
Catch your eddies,
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  Quote okeefe Replybullet Posted: 25 Jan 2015 at 8:24am
A little more background on this. The bill was introduced in response to an issue on the Yakima River where the public is using a bridge right-of-way as a take-out. Use is exceeding capacity at the site and in the summer (largely floater crowd) it is spilling over and impacting the adjacent property owner--people are illegally parking, trespassing, littering, and engaging in drug use and adult activity. It kind of sounds like existing laws need to be enforced.

The "solution" proposed by the representative from Richland is to prohibit access at all "small" public parcels across the state. This would obviously be devastating for boater access, fishermen, divers, etc. and would apply to rivers and marine shoreline.

The sponsor of the bill has not been able to attract any co-sponsors, the committee Chair told him he had "more work to do", and several state agencies including State Parks, Department of Ecology, and Department of Natural Resources all testified in opposition (I sent follow up thank you notes to all of them). Chelan PUD also testified in opposition stating that it would conflict with their obligations under their FERC hydropower license to provide public access to the river (thank you Chelan PUD!)

While the bill is not going to move in it's current form the sponsor is still motivated to find a way to vacate the public corridor along the bridge. As we all know these right-of-ways are extremely important for our access. I will be reaching out to the bill sponsor to explore solutions for the site-specific problem (e.g. is there another site where parking can be found?). It is still extremely helpful to have folks on this forum write their elected state representatives. This bill provides a great platform to remind them how important access to waterways is to citizens of the state.

I am also kicking around ideas for a bill that promotes public access so stay tuned for that.

Finally, it takes time and resources for me to meet with folks in Olympia to deal with these things when they come up. Thanks to all of you who support my work. If you have not gotten around to joining or renewing your American Whitewater membership, hopefully this will provide some motivation. If you would like to make a special contribution supporting my work on public access, I can accept restricted donations (just put a note in the comments field on the online form or a memo on your check). To those of you have done that I can't thank you enough. We run a low overhead operation here and every dollar is invested wisely.

www.americanwhitewater.org/donate


Thomas O'Keefe
PNW Stewardship Director
American Whitewater
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oukr9965
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  Quote oukr9965 Replybullet Posted: 26 Jan 2015 at 7:56am
I live in West Richland which if I'm correct is where the "problem" is initiating from. During the summer folks load up trucks and cars with rafts and tubes and enjoy floating on the yakima River. It's probably the old issue of a few bad eggs ruining a good time for all. Hopefully this bill gets squashed, it's like using a back-hoe when all you need are tweezers. What the folks locally should be focusing on is removing the lowhead dam a few miles upstream and converting it to a play park. Would boost the economy and save lives while still allowing for irrigation. Will definitely send something out when I'm not typing on my phone. Thanks for the email Tom.
-Lanson
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irenen
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  Quote irenen Replybullet Posted: 27 Jan 2015 at 2:00pm
Here's an anti-HB1056 letter version that fits on the email submission form for the legislators (it has a 1,000 character limit) in case anyone hasn't written in yet and wants to do it quickly.

https://www.sugarsync.com/pf/D7530806_77110605_6713438

Legislators are here  -  http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/  - , if you click their name and then their 'Email' link you can comment on HB 1056 specifically, and if you write to one you can check a box to have it sent to the others automatically.  I hadn't done this before but it took around 3 minutes.
It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.
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  Quote PowWrangler Replybullet Posted: 27 Jan 2015 at 2:15pm
. Not a biggie, but that form letter references HB 105, not 1056 at the end.
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  Quote jcboaterboy Replybullet Posted: 27 Jan 2015 at 2:19pm
Thanks Irene super helpful, just did it in 3 minutes or less!
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irenen
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  Quote irenen Replybullet Posted: 27 Jan 2015 at 2:19pm
Originally posted by PowWrangler

. Not a biggie, but that form letter references HB 105, not 1056 at the end.


Gahh!!  Thanks for catching that, I've corrected it.

Murphy's Law says that HB 105 is probably the one that says let's heal the sick and feed the poor.  Dang it.
It's all fun and games until someone loses a paddle.
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James
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  Quote James Replybullet Posted: 27 Jan 2015 at 7:23pm
Not to derail the discussion but :
http://www.meetup.com/Seattle-Fun-Adventure-Group/events/182791912/

I got $5 bucks that was the thorn in the local land owner. The local cops probably show up and can't enforce crap due to mouthy kids and lack of ability, plus with that many people loading on the river you would have to have a big display of force to make any difference. Bummer




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  Quote dave Replybullet Posted: 27 Jan 2015 at 9:05pm
I can understand where this is coming from, this summer I witnessed massive garbage, cars and people swarming on the rivers because of the heat, it was crazy! I was glad when it got cold and rainy, then we finally got the rivers back to ourselves...

Anyway, it doesnt warrant legislation, we dont need any more laws, in fact we need less laws before we become like communists.
Nomad
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