Lake Roosevelt Administrative History

Recreation Management at LARO, 1975-1998

On May 19, 1975, the Park Service transferred the responsibility for the operation of five campgrounds within the Indian Zones, giving the CCT responsibility for Sanpoil, Three Mile, Wilmont, and Barnaby Island and the STI responsibility for Pierre. The transfer was made pursuant to a provision of the Tri-Party Agreement of 1946 that authorized such transfers to the state or to other political subdivision. Some LARO employees resented the takeover because they perceived the tribes as not maintaining the facilities to Park Service standards. That first summer, the STI charged a fee at Pierre and visitation dropped considerably. Sanpoil had the most facilities, including a comfort station, launch ramp, potable water, and fifteen sites with tables and fireplaces, a playground, and a small boat pier. The others ranged from having no facilities (Three Mile) to being well equipped (Pierre). Sanpoil campground is still maintained, but the other four transferred from LARO were not being maintained as of 1987. Both tribes have added new campgrounds within the Reservation Zone, however. [75]

During the 1970s and 1980s, LARO recreation planners faced several new challenges, including vastly increased visitation to Lake Roosevelt. Between 1985 and 1989, visitation to the NRA increased by 171 percent (visitation to Park Service units nationwide only increased 7 percent during this period). The increased use during this period was due to gasoline shortages that caused people to travel closer to home, the availability of rental houseboats on the lake, and the lake's growing reputation as an excellent fishery. Overcrowding at campgrounds on weekends became a common problem at several of the larger developed sites. The most popular campground was Porcupine Bay, and Keller Ferry campground experienced the most overcrowding. [77]

The CCT in 1988 established a Tribal Parks Department to serve the recreating public and to protect the resources of the reservation. The following year, the tribes proposed building campgrounds with boat launch ramps at Inchelium Ferry and Sanpoil Bay. In the late 1970s, the STI developed the Silpinpitkin campground on Lake Roosevelt for tribal use only. The STI's tribal park rangers work in the natural resources department. [78]

Back in 1967, LARO staff had begun developing construction standards and policies for community docks to replace individual docks provided for under individual permits. The Park Service felt that private facilities such as docks on government land near the shoreline created the impression that public use within those areas was not welcome. As Kelly Cash, LARO Assistant Superintendent, commented in 1986, "It simply is not fair to the visiting public to let their shoreline be nibbled away by private development." [79] Over the years, many individual docks whose permits had expired were removed from the lakeshore by their owners and replaced by community docks. [80]

In the 1970s, LARO tried to meet the increasing pressure of boaters on Lake Roosevelt by widening or building new boat launch ramps. The Denver Service Center was responsible for the design and planning of the ramps, and Reclamation for their construction. LARO received $730,000 under the federal Land Heritage Program for ca. 150 floating facilities, including concessionaire fueling facilities, docks, moorage, gangways, and swim platforms. [81]

Work on expanding LARO's floating facilities continued in the 1980s. To provide boating facilities that were usable during summer drawdowns of Lake Roosevelt, Reclamation and Park Service worked out an agreement to modify existing boat launch ramps and other facilities to function when the reservoir was drawn down well below 1,290 feet. During this period, LARO also added a number of boat-in campgrounds to the recreation area (most of the earlier ones had been located within the Indian Zones). Since the 1980s, boaters have been allowed to camp wherever they like if they have a portable toilet on board. [82]

The negotiations over the division of management responsibilities for Lake Roosevelt were essentially resolved by the April 5, 1990, signing of the Lake Roosevelt Cooperative Management Agreement (the Multi-Party Agreement). This new agreement confirmed the Colville and Spokane tribes' management authority over the reservoir and related lands within the boundaries of their respective reservations. It required the five signatory parties — Park Service, Reclamation, BIA, and the two tribes - to coordinate their management efforts and to standardize their policies as much as possible. The agreement created the Lake Roosevelt Coordinating Committee to facilitate coordination of such issues as visitor safety and law enforcement, concessions, and radio communications. [83]

In essence, the 1990 agreement reaffirmed the status quo since 1974, that the tribes managed the lands and waters bordering their reservations and the Park Service managed the rest of the federally owned land and water (except for the land managed by Reclamation). Since 1990, the Park Service has managed approximately 61 percent of the land and 58 percent of the water in the management area. The tribes and the Park Service occasionally work together on recreational projects. For example, there are current plans for joint construction of a launch ramp on the Sanpoil River. [84]

By 1988, LARO's recreational facilities were rather extensive. They included twenty-seven campgrounds, twenty-nine picnic areas, fourteen launch ramps, ten swim beaches, and five concession operations. A Concession Management Plan for Lake Roosevelt was prepared by the tribes, Park Service, Reclamation, and BIA and approved in 1991. But overcrowding of campgrounds, parking lots, and other facilities continued to be a pressing issue for LARO management throughout the 1990s, along with the lack of some needed facilities such as a marina on the south end of the lake or facilities to serve the residents of new communities along the lake. [85]

The 1978 National Parks and Recreation Act contained a provision requiring the Park Service to prepare and revise General Management Plans (GMPs) for each unit. The GMP prepared for LARO in 1980 proposed four alternatives for managing the NRA. Plans for each major developed area included various visitor and administrative facilities. The selected alternative allowed for expanding current developments as the need arose while preserving the "low key atmosphere" desired by visitors. All new and improved facilities were to be fully accessible to handicapped visitors. Low-energy forms of recreation would be emphasized, and moderate upgrading and expansion at major developed areas was planned. The Indian Zones were not included in the recommendations in response to CCT comments that the GMP should not be prepared until the management roles of the tribes and various agencies had been clarified consistent with the 1974 Solicitor's Opinion. [86]

In 1998, LARO prepared a new GMP to replace the first one approved in 1980. The preferred alternative, approved January 2000, called for increasing the capacity of existing facilities where feasible and redirecting some visitation to less-used areas. Proposed management changes included allowing community launch ramps and docks where there is a need for local access to Lake Roosevelt (these would be available to the public, unlike existing community docks); increasing "protected waters" areas for canoeing; developing concession facilities at Crescent Bay and Hunters; and establishing a deep-water moorage facility in the Kettle Falls area. LARO was zoned into new management areas according to intensity of use, with each zone to be managed according to its character. [87]

One of the issues addressed in the 1998 draft GMP was the need to expand the Kettle Falls marina because of increased visitor use and impacts on the concessionaire due to the low drawdown levels. The Park Service examined deepening the existing harbor at Kettle Falls and/or establishing a new location for deep-water marina facilities in that area (Lion's Island and Colville Flats were both considered and rejected in the 1990s because of environmental impacts and highway access issues). The need to dredge the Kettle Falls harbor had been recognized as early as the 1940s; it was dredged in 1951 and then again in 1985 and 1990 in cooperation with the Washington State Department of Transportation. [88]

In 2000, the Park Service banned personal watercraft such as Jet Skis at all but ten of its units. LARO is one of the NRAs where they are still allowed. During the scoping for the 1998 GMP, many members of the public expressed concern about the noise of the watercraft and the perceptions of their increasingly irresponsible use on Lake Roosevelt. LARO and the tribes agreed to monitor the situation closely and to establish regulations if necessary. [89]

The 1990 Special Park Use Management Plan addressed Park Service concerns that public lands along Lake Roosevelt were being privatized. The plan directed LARO to begin phasing out special uses that were found to be in conflict with applicable laws and Park Service management policies, including private lawns, private docks, and grazing and agricultural permits. The phasing out of livestock grazing permits (not yet completed) has had a positive impact on public recreation in the NRA. LARO staff also began building fences around a few of the popular developed areas to keep out livestock. [90]

In the 1990s, as more and more people began to build homes near Lake Roosevelt, the Park Service recognized that previous management plans did not provide sufficient facilities for people living along the lake. Also, between 1985 and 1991, years in which LARO visitation and boat launchings on Lake Roosevelt increased dramatically, only one new launch ramp had been constructed at LARO. The Park Service contended that lake access suffered during summer drawdowns. LARO and BPA staff prepared documentation supporting their request for funds to build new launch ramps and to extend existing ramps on Lake Roosevelt, working with Congressman Foley's office. Beginning in 1991, LARO received special Congressional appropriations totaling $1.9 million to build six new boat ramps at locations determined through public input and to retrofit and expand nine existing ramps so they could be used at lower lake levels. These new and improved facilities, built 1991-1993, allowed adjacent landowners to access the lake more conveniently, and they also helped relieve crowding at some of the developed areas. Today, some of LARO's multi-lane boat ramps handle as many as 125 launches per day during the busy season. [91]

A partnership that LARO hoped would be a "model for the future" was developed in 1991 to build a boat ramp and parking area at the Lincoln Mill site near Fort Spokane. The construction was funded by Lincoln County, the Park Service, the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation, and private sources, and the Park Service agreed to maintain and operate the ramp. [92]

By 1998, LARO had 22 boat launch ramps (8 more than in 1988). Other visitor facilities included twenty-eight campgrounds (ten of which were boat-in only) with 640 individual sites plus several group campsites and three concession-operated marinas that provided moorage, boat rentals, fuel, supplies, sanitary facilities, and other services. The two tribes operate ten campgrounds along the shores of Lake Roosevelt. [93]