Lake Roosevelt Administrative History

Development of Regulations to Govern the Use of LARO

During World War II, the Coast Guard established a patrol base on Lake Roosevelt in order to enforce motorboat and navigation regulations and to aid the federal guard in protecting the dam and other government property. By the end of 1942, the Coast Guard's forty men and four motorboats were doing regular patrols upriver to the mouth of the Spokane River, with occasional trips to Marcus and Northport (National Guard personnel did boat patrols for a few years after the war). The Coast Guard also installed directional lights as navigation aids. In 1949, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey completed a standard navigation chart of Lake Roosevelt. No markings, however, were placed on the water to designate the Indian Zones established by the 1945 Solicitor's Opinion. [50]

Coast Guard patrol base about half a mile upstream from Grand Coulee Dam, December 1942. The former Camp Ferry barge served as quarters. Reclamation later leased this facility to the Grand Coulee Dam Yacht Club. Photo courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Grand Coulee (USBR Archives 559).

In 1946, when the National Park Service was finally selected to manage recreation on Lake Roosevelt, no regulations had yet been established to govern the use of the lake. The only restrictions on small boats were those that normally applied on navigable inland rivers and lakes. Of particular concern to Superintendent Greider and his staff was the need for more stringent boating regulations. By the spring of 1946, before the Tri-Party Agreement had been approved, the office of the Park Service Director had asked the Regional Office to submit a draft of the rules and regulations for public use of the reservoir. On the national level, the Park Service started working on legislation that would give the Department of Interior authority to regulate recreational use of both navigable and non-navigable waters within recreation areas. [51]

Many public comments on the proposed regulations focused on particular aspects of recreational use of the reservoir. One of the questions most debated within the Park Service was whether or not to charge a fee for private boat permits. Greider supported permits but not an accompanying fee, partly because of the "difficult public relations situation" locally and because of the lack of rangers to enforce fee collection. The September 1948 draft regulations stated that a permit issued by the Superintendent, with a fee, would be required; the 1951 regulations mentioned a required free permit; the final regulations said that boat operators may register their boats with the Superintendent to aid in recovery of lost or stolen boats. This progression from quite restrictive to much less restrictive also occurred with other recreational issues, such as camping (from being allowed only in designated areas to anywhere except areas posted by Superintendent), and swimming (from being allowed only in designated areas to anywhere except in areas prohibited). The regulations were amended many times between 1948 and 1952. The Department of Interior finally approved and issued them on June 27, 1952. Claude Greider was transferred a year later. Hugh Peyton, former superintendent of the Millerton Lake NRA, replaced Greider at LARO. [52]

Boaters from Wenatchee and Ellensburg starting off on a trip to the Arrow Lakes in British Columbia, June 1947. Photo courtesy of Grant County Historical Society and Museum, BOR Collection.

During the sometimes acrimonious debate over the proposed regulations for LARO, the Park Service was also maneuvering to be selected as the managing agency for the twenty-seven-mile-long equalizing reservoir south of Grand Coulee Dam now known as Banks Lake. The Park Service proposed constructing recreation facilities and administering the recreational uses of the Upper Grand Coulee as an extension of LARO. The plan, predictably, met with strong opposition. Despite what Greider called a "propaganda campaign," until 1953 LARO staff assumed that the equalizing reservoir would become either a fourth ranger district of LARO or a separate NRA under Park Service administration. District headquarters were planned for the town of Coulee City. These plans were cancelled, however, in the spring of 1953. [53]