Rogue Awareness

The board of the Oregon Whitewater Association recently met and the board has agreed to take the following position to help alleviate the crowded camping on the Rogue River:

As the Board of Directors, we recognize there are vast and different opinions on this issue and have decided to keep the official club stance as broad as possible in an effort to advocate for all boaters.

• Increase the confirmation time for winning lottery applications from 10 days to 30 days. With all of the commitments most of us have during the busy summer season, ten days is simply not enough time to put together a large group. Between scheduling time off work, juggling other commitments and finding multiple day childcare (if you need to), most of us have our summers planned out more than 10 days ahead of us at a time. A 30 day notice seems a little more reasonable for planning purposes.
• Define the large group size that is able to reserve campsites as 10 people. If we as private boaters are going to be able to participate in this campsite reservation system, and the defining rule as to whether you can reserve a campsite or not is group size, then the definition of a large group should be something that is reasonable attainable by most boaters. We feel a group size of ten people is large enough that a large campsite is necessary while at the same time most people can round up ten people to take a river trip given enough notice.
• Place signs at each campsite marking the river mile and the recommended group size. Signing the campsites helps in a number of ways: it lets people know the marked location is in fact a campsite, it lets people know where exactly they are at on the river, and it would let people know the recommended group size so small groups can leave the campsites for large groups. Also, if there is to be a reservation system then at a minimum the sites that can be reserved need to be signed to let everyone know the site has a possibility of being reserved.

Not much has happened on the campsite congestions problem. A couple outfitters have made proposals to the BLM and haven’t heard anything back. I’ve also heard that several recreational boaters have sent proposals to the BLM to do nothing. It seems like not much will get done before the 2009 rafting season.

It seems that the best thing we can do is increase communication between all parties that float the Rogue. River In order to do this, I’d be happy to come speak any recreational boating group about:

• What commercial companies can do to improve
• Why we need to send rabbit boats and how we can reduce the need for them
• Answer any questions from an outfitter’s perspective

From a meeting I’d be happy to send any feedback with the other commercial outfitters and guides. Please email me or simply add a comment to this blog and give us your input.

Thanks,

Zachary Collier
ECHO River Trips
(541) 386-2271
zach@echotrips.com