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.

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.

This is the fast track to Colorado style access issues.

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

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

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.

Thanks Irene super helpful, just did it in 3 minutes or less!

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