Lake Roosevelt Administrative History

Visitor Protection and Law Enforcement

The purpose of having protection (law enforcement) rangers at LARO has always been to ensure the safety of park visitors and to protect the area's natural and cultural resources and facilities. The ranger division follows standard Park Service procedures in accomplishing these goals. At LARO, most of the rangers are seasonal employees who work from May to September. In 1950, four years after the NRA had been established, LARO had only two rangers, and they were "taxed to the utmost." The park added an additional seven seasonal rangers in 1961 as part of the Mission 66 program, and in later decades the numbers of rangers grew as visitation to LARO increased. The emphasis has shifted back and forth from land to water a number of times, depending on the Chief Ranger's and Superintendent's priorities and on changing recreational use patterns. [101]

Park Service concerns about visitor safety at LARO revolve primarily around water safety, and indeed most of the fatalities within the NRA, as in other national park units, have been due to drownings or car accidents. No one drowned at LARO between 1955 and 1971, but in 1972 four people drowned despite a special emphasis on public safety that year. The number of fatalities each year averages three or less through the present. Lifeguards at LARO have regularly rescued swimmers. Since the early years, the Red Cross has taught swimming classes at selected beaches. Lifeguards worked at the most popular beaches until 1996, when they were dropped because of cost and other concerns. [102]

One of the main safety concerns today is the use of personal watercraft. Park rangers are currently monitoring the situation during the peak season. In 1999, seven significant accidents that involved personal watercraft occurred in the Fort Spokane area within just two weeks. [104]

Safety messages have been incorporated into interpretive programs and are posted on bulletin boards. Handouts and information on safety hazards such as floating debris, hypothermia, and storms are distributed at visitor centers. When special circumstances warrant, such as a 1978 toxic algae bloom, the NRA issues warnings through regional media. Rangers are trained in and equipped for basic first aid, and in recent years many park employees are certified Emergency Medical Services providers. Talks on safety topics have been given to visitors, such as programs on fire safety and the use of fire extinguishers. [105]

Because Lake Roosevelt is a navigable body of water, since the 1940s the U.S. Coast Guard has been responsible for performing boat inspections and for enforcing navigation laws and regulations on Lake Roosevelt. LARO's first Superintendent, Claude Greider, recognized that the Park Service also had a responsibility in relation to boating safety. In 1947, he told the Coast Guard that the Park Service would agree to take over the maintenance and installation of navigation lights on Lake Roosevelt and asked whether Park Service personnel could be deputized to conduct boat inspections and enforce boating regulations. The Coast Guard informed LARO that its employees could indeed be deputized and would have the authority to make arrests. The Coast Guard began training LARO rangers in inspection procedures in the early 1950s, even though Park Service jurisdiction on the waters of Lake Roosevelt remained in question until at least 1956. [106]

LARO rangers have conducted regular boat patrols during the busy season on the waters of each of the three districts since the 1950s. The enforcement of LARO's boating regulations became increasingly important and complex over the years. As fishing on the lake improved, the number of boat inspections began to climb. By the mid-1960s, staff was expressing a need for more boat patrols, larger boats, more buoys and markers, and improved boat ramps. Throughout the 1960s, boating violations far outnumbered all other law enforcement offenses at LARO. For example, in 1969 there were 194 boating violations; all other offenses numbered five or less per category. In the 1970s, however, parking and motor vehicle violations began to exceed boating violations in some years. [107]

Lifeguard at a LARO beach, 1964. Photo courtesy of National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center (HFC 64-156).

As the number of boaters on Lake Roosevelt climbed, LARO staff devised ways to make the boat inspection process more efficient. In 1976, LARO designed a windshield decal for boat operators who had already passed inspection. Patrol boats began to be standardized to reduce training and maintenance time. Boat patrols increased 66 percent in 1978, and that year new exhibits on boating and safety information were installed at major access points. Most of the boat ramps had "ramp rangers" who provided lake information and made sure boaters understood the safety requirements (lack of life preservers was the most common mistake), but a 1978 survey found that close to 70 percent of Lake Roosevelt boaters had no contact with LARO's boating safety program. [108]

In 1977, after many years of discussing the possibility, LARO rangers took over from the U.S. Coast Guard the duty of maintaining and repairing the aids to navigation along Lake Roosevelt and the Spokane River Arm. These lights are installed as far upstream as Kettle Falls, and they help commercial log-towing tugs as well as pleasure boaters. This agreement was apparently not renewed for a period, but in 1993 LARO once again assumed responsibility for routine maintenance on aids to navigation lights and buoys. Reclamation continued to maintain its four navigation lights at the China Bar debris-control facilities. The Coast Guard maintained the channel marking buoys on the lake and also provided assistance with LARO's boating safety program, including "courtesy marine examinations" on busy weekends. As an additional navigation aid, LARO installed ten-mile markers from the dam to just south of Northport in 1988. In 1997, the Coast Guard approached LARO about discontinuing the aids to navigation because of budget cuts. The Coast Guard currently maintains the aids to navigation and is examining the need for improvements. [109]

LARO ranger talking on radio in Park Service boat, no date. Photo courtesy of National Park Service, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area (LARO.FS).

In the early 1990s, LARO, CCT, and STI staff all increased their boat patrols on Lake Roosevelt. LARO personnel began making more boat stops for inspections, partly to enforce new boat registration fees based on boat length. If serious safety violations were identified, such as not having sufficient personal flotation devices or overloading, the boaters had to return to port and correct the problem. Common boat operating violations included water skiing without an observer, jumping boat wakes with personal watercraft, and swimming in boat traffic areas. Currently, LARO personnel have some fifteen boats at their disposal, a great improvement since 1947, when the staff had only three cruisers. [110]

In the late 1990s, LARO's boating safety program was feeling the pinch of increased visitation combined with relatively flat operating budgets. Cooperating agencies and members of the public felt that the Park Service should step up its enforcement of boating regulations. In response, LARO proposed an enhanced boater safety program in 1997. This program, funded out of base funds, supports seasonal rangers who perform safety inspections at twenty-two launch ramps and on LARO's lake and rivers; develop and distribute boating safety materials to visitors and local communities; and develop and present boating safety programs. LARO rangers currently average about 600 inspections a year. Visitors appreciate the reintroduction of an annual LARO sticker that is secured to each boat that passes the safety inspection, thus allowing the rangers to bypass boats with current LARO stickers. [111]

Park Service staff has been involved since at least the 1970s in planning for emergency response in coordination with other local, county, state, tribal, and federal agencies. LARO completed a safety plan in 1992 and initiated a Hazard Communication Program. LARO staff have played a leadership role in the Emergency Services Committee of the Lake Roosevelt Forum. [112]

Law enforcement issues of the 1940s at LARO primarily involved special use permits and trespass issues. Recreational visitation was quite low, and no regulations for the NRA had yet been established. In the 1950s, enforcement of the new area regulations and follow-up on incidents such as vandalism did not require vast amounts of time for the handful of rangers at LARO. Law enforcement was still a "relatively minor activity" at LARO in the 1960s (in August 1965, for example, the Superintendent reported that only three "rowdy parties" had to be broken up, and most years rangers made no arrests). Seasonal rangers stationed at each of the main campgrounds provided information and services to visitors, and permanent rangers conducted periodic patrols of developed areas. Night patrols were done at Coulee Dam and Kettle Falls during the busy season. [113]

In an important case for LARO law enforcement, the Deputy Solicitor in 1961 held that Park Service regulations were applicable to NRAs, including LARO, and could be enforced under the criminal provisions of the Act of 1916 that established the Park Service. But, according to the Field Solicitor in Ephrata, Washington, LARO rangers still did not have the power of arrest. This was resolved in 1970 when Congress defined the National Park System to include areas administered by the Park Service for recreational purposes. This legislation gave LARO law-enforcement personnel the authority to conduct investigations, execute warrants, carry firearms, and make arrests as at other Park Service units. But the situation at Lake Roosevelt has always been rather complex because of multiple jurisdictions. In the 1960s, law enforcement agencies with police authority on LARO land included the state police, five sheriff's offices, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Park Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the tribal police. On water, the agencies included the five sheriff's offices, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Coast Guard, Park Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The sheriff's office handled some 90 percent of the cases on land, the Park Service the remaining 10 percent. [114]

LARO park ranger visiting with attendees of a Lutheran church picnic, Fort Spokane, August 1956. Photo courtesy of National Park Service, Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area. (LARO.FS.)

In 1970, a riot in Yosemite and a boy's death in Yellowstone focused attention on Park Service law enforcement and visitor safety issues, and Congress provided funding for a comprehensive law-enforcement training program. LARO, like other park units, worked on improving the training of its ranger force in the 1970s. One district ranger completed the Basic Law Enforcement Course at the Park Service's National Capital Training Center in Washington, D.C., in 1971, and the two others in 1972 (since 1977, this training takes place at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia). Training LARO's permanent and seasonal rangers was important because the General Authorities Act of 1970 required a law enforcement commission for rangers who patrolled parks. During this period, the NRA adopted the Case Record system for recording incidents and found it superior to previous procedures. LARO prepared a set of guidelines, "The Application of Law Enforcement to Human Behavior," as a supplement to the LARO Law Enforcement Policy Statement. Only LARO rangers with law-enforcement authority wore the National Park Service badge during this period. During the 1970s, the area's rangers handled some 200 to 450 case incidents per year. [115]

Currently, all seasonal protection rangers at LARO are required to go through a Park Service-approved nine-week training to receive their law enforcement commission. Most do this through Skagit Community College in Mount Vernon, Washington. All permanent law-enforcement rangers are required to attend the eleven-week federal training program in Georgia. [116]

Problems in LARO campgrounds have been a long-standing concern to park rangers. In 1973, LARO imposed a ban on dogs in the major picnic areas. At Spring Canyon, NRA staff installed streetlights, patrolled until 2 a.m., and closed the day use area late at night to try to prevent teenage parties and vandalism. Despite these measures, the most common visitor complaints in 1978 involved noise at night, dogs off leash, disturbances caused by motorcyclists, and drinking. A campground host at Evans in the early 1990s complained that many if not all of the campground rules posted on bulletin boards were not enforced. [118]

During the 1980s, the major law enforcement problems at LARO involved parties at campgrounds, but other issues becoming increasingly important were encroachments, vandalism, and game and fish poaching. LARO rangers put special effort into controlling the use of unauthorized roads, mostly to protect archaeological sites. Reservoir drawdowns resulted in more citations for vandalism of exposed cultural resources and for damage to sites by off-road vehicles driving on exposed shore lands. Rangers annually handled some four hundred case incident records, one to two hundred violation notices, one to two hundred courtesy tags, and ten motor vehicle accidents. By 1988, LARO's law enforcement personnel were working basically in compliance mode due to increasing visitation, vast numbers of encroachments, personnel reductions, and a general workload increase. Pre-suppression fire monies funded large amounts of overtime to accomplish visitor protection patrols. [119]

Some seasonal positions were split between visitor and resource protection and interpretation. Many LARO staff, such as former Fort Spokane employee Tom Teaford, enjoyed the resulting variety of work. Teaford recalls that a ranger participating in a living history program at Fort Spokane was called out on a law enforcement incident, and he made the arrest while costumed as an 1890s soldier. [120]

LARO protection rangers in the 1990s were spread more thinly than in the past. Boat patrols, campground foot patrols, and safety inspections at launch ramps were all reduced. Most of the rangers' time during the busy season was spent on land dealing with visitor use management issues at parking areas and campgrounds. The total number of reportable incidents was over six hundred in 1993. In 1997, LARO had the equivalent of fourteen full-time staff in law enforcement but reported that the area actually needed twenty-three. By this time, natural resource violations constituted the majority of case incident reports. Poaching remained a particular problem. In 1990, about 35 percent of hunters were contacted by rangers. Violations included exceeding the bag limit and hunting before or after hours. Covert operations were used in investigating some poaching cases. [121]

Over the decades, LARO has signed cooperative agreements with other federal and state law enforcement agencies, the tribes, and local jurisdictions. Thus, the Park Service shares some law enforcement and emergency services jurisdiction with these entities. County sheriffs take the lead in juvenile crime cases and in criminal cases that require investigative work beyond LARO's capability. When a case initiated by the Park Service goes to trial, it goes through the federal court system if the violation involves a federal law. Most cases can be handled through the state or county court system, which LARO staff prefer. [122]

Park Service rangers and CCT tribal rangers are cross deputized under authority of a Memorandum of Agreement established in 1991 and subsequently renewed. The Park Service and the STI have a similar agreement signed in 1999. The CCT's Tribal Park Service was established in 1988, and the agreement allows tribal rangers to attend Park Service law-enforcement refresher courses. Tribal game officers had been attending LARO trainings such as the boat school, however, since at least the 1970s. [123]

One of the management headaches caused by multiple law-enforcement entities with jurisdiction over LARO's land and water in the early years was the lack of direct radio communications between the various agencies. In the mid-1980s, Park Service vehicles began to be equipped with radios that tied in to local sheriff's offices and fire districts for coordinating search and rescues, hazardous material incidents, wildfire suppression, and other multiple-agency emergencies. Tribal rangers were authorized in the 1990s to monitor LARO's frequency in order to help when radio communications between Park Service units were not possible. [124]

Two national programs have helped in recent years to fund the LARO law enforcement program: Delta 9 Drug Eradication Program and the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. Delta 9 was initiated in 1985 as part of a nationwide emphasis on detecting and eradicating marijuana grown in national parks. LARO coordinated this program with the BIA, sheriff's departments, and tribal police. LARO ranger staff, in preparing funding requests, described the NRA as "very attractive to those who seek isolation for their illegal activities" and mentioned heavy drug traffic in and around the area. In 1987, LARO received funding to help combat drug-related problems in the park. Both air and ground searches have been conducted to find marijuana fields and methamphetamine labs. These interagency operations result each year in the seizure of property, arrests, and the removal of plants from lands near and occasionally on LARO lands. The transporting of illegal drugs across the border in boats, and border trespasses, have not been a problem on Lake Roosevelt. [126]

In 1990, LARO management converted a permanent GS-7 law enforcement ranger to serve as a DARE instructor and to serve on a multi-agency drug task force in response to a community request and in cooperation with the Stevens County Sheriff's Department. That year, some seventy Kettle Falls students graduated from the DARE school program, which emphasizes recreation as an alternative to drug and alcohol use for children. The following year, an additional permanent ranger position was established to serve as a DARE instructor in the Grand Coulee Dam school district. Soon, the program had expanded to the Wellpinit, Nespelem, and Hunters school districts, graduating hundreds of students each year, and LARO obtained two DARE boats. Besides the benefits to the students, the program served as good public relations for the Park Service in the local communities. Today, rangers teach DARE at many schools throughout the area, such as Grand Coulee, Coulee City, Hunters, and Kettle Falls. [127]