Canyon County, Idaho — The sailing community is fighting an environmental proposal happening in Canyon County. The Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge wants to no longer allow regattas on Lake Lowell as a part of the their Final Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement. Related Story Here
Can you believe the bureaucrats wanting to ban sailboat regattas and still allow motorboats, and say it’s for environmental reasons? Go to: http://www.fws.gov/deerflat/web-comment.html and let them know what you think about their plans.
Thanks for posting this Bob! Hope we can rally the troops and get this stopped!
Thanks for posting Bob and Kim for sharing. Latest from the local paper, The wildlife refuge will have to prove it has domain and power to make changes.
The wildlife admins would like to shut down the whole lake. There are a lot of people in the town close by have moved there, bought boats, of all kinds to be able to use the lake.
Check out what's happening to the Drake's Bay Oyster Company (DBOC). Environmental agencies use the same excuse to close down their operation, wildlife protection. Today, the DBOC attended a court hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals, in San Fransisco, in an attempt to remain operational.
The United States government is fabricating conditions to adversely effect the lives of otherwise law abiding citizens. And, they're laughing about it; just like the official in the news clip. She can't even make her point without laughing at herself.
Their intent is to, "rock and unrocked boat."
One day I hope to sail and cruise, but I can see the day when such activity is not authorized or prohibitively expensive do to fees and taxes. You'll ignore this issue at the peril of your liberty.
To be kind, Ms Kain came off as one of the most clueless commentators on a subject such as the impact of sailboats on wildlife as I can imagine. It seems that the major concern is that the sailboats might or do get in the way of speeding powerboats during the limited racing season that they have on the lake. From what I read there are basically two weekends of racing a year scheduled at the lake. One in April and one in May both of which don't seem like prime power boat season.
Possibly the high speeds of six or seven miles per hour that the boats attain during a race seems excessive to people who's main concern is that fishermen or hunters can get to their prime fishing spots or hunting spots in record time in their 100 horsepower boats.
UPDATE:
From: SISA Secretary or Commodore <idahosailing@gmail.com>
Subject: Canyon County Commissioners Petition for Lake Lowell
Greetings Sailors. The Canyon County Commissioners have posted a petition in regard to the USFWS Comprehensive Conservation Plan for Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge. If you are interested in supporting their point of view, you can sign the petition at the link below. This web page also has a link to Canyon County's position paper.
http://www.canyonco.org/Elected-Officials/Commiss…
Bottom line of petition….. Canyon County will not acknowledge any right of US Fish and Wildlife service to any jurisdiction over surface waters or public use of Lake Lowell. Idaho Constitution (the state)rules over all water.
What a brilliant post! I love it. I'm a sailor and like to add a little bit. A boat is said to be on a starboard tack when the wind is blowing from its starboard side and pushes the boom to the port side of the boat. Conversely, a boat is said to be on a port tack when the wind is blowing from its ports side and the boom is pushed to the starboard side of the boat. Up a boat is running and the wind is blowing from directly behind, the boat’s tack is determined to be the opposite side that the boom is on. When a boat is into the wind, it does not really have a tack since the boom is straight back and the boat is not sailing. Still, this boat’s tack is determined to be the last tack the boat was on before entering the ‘No-Go-Zone’. Cheers~ •Gloria Bird
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