Bush to Review National Park Ban on Jet Watercraft

The Bush administration has decided to review bans on jet-powered skis and similar watercraft at four national parks in Eastern and Midwestern states.

The action provoked concern among conservation groups that the bans will be weakened or overturned. But critics of the bans cheered the move, saying that some park officials had acted precipitously in prohibiting the use of popular jet-powered skis and other small motorized craft.

Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton wants to study how the four parks instituted their bans, said Carol Anthony, spokesman at National Park Service headquarters in Washington.

“Some red flags were sent to the secretary,” Anthony said. “She wanted to review the record.” The parks involved are the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Cumberland Island National Seashore in Georgia; Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Indiana; and Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina.

The reviews underscore the fresh scrutiny federal officials are giving to Clinton administration efforts to curb certain uses of some national parks and recreation areas. Earlier this week, officials said that further formal comment may be sought on a controversial pending ban on snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park.

A tug of war has continued for decades over the purpose of national park land, pitting recreational users against environmentalists over the use of snowmobiles, swamp buggies, airboats and other motorized vehicles.

Personal watercraft such as jet-powered skis are no exception. Critics say that the small motorcycle-like craft create havoc on park waters, belching pollution and emitting noise that irritates other park-goers and wildlife.

Such watercraft are being banned in many national parks, and a recent court settlement requires the remaining 21 parks to conduct environmental reviews to see if bans are needed. The settlement came in a lawsuit brought by the Bluewater Network, part of Earth Island Institute, an environmental group. No motorboats are affected.

Superintendents at the four park areas pinpointed by the Bush administration all moved ahead with bans before the 2002 review deadline. The administration has asked the four areas to send the paperwork that led to the bans to Washington, where it will be reviewed by Interior officials.

Some environmentalists said they fear that pending or potential bans at some Western parks may be subject to review as well. But a national park spokesman for the West Coast, Holly Bundock, said she has not heard that reviews of possible bans at three parks in her area would be affected.

News of the review was applauded by a spokesman at the American Watercraft Assn., which represents owners of personal watercraft.

“The reality of the situation is that personal watercraft operators are all sorts of people, including grandmothers in North Carolina who want to go to the seashore to have a picnic,” said Stephan Andranian, government affairs manager for the association, which is based in Foothill Ranch in southern Orange County.

Kevin Collins, director of park recreation at the National Parks Conservation Assn., a Washington-based conservation group, disagreed. “These rules have been put in place to protect the park, protect the visitors--and then the secretary steps in.” He said he fears that the Interior Department is “undercutting these protections for parks in a very backdoor sort of way.”