Lake Roosevelt Administrative History

Concessions at LARO, 1987-1998

In 1987, concession operations on Lake Roosevelt began to move from small-scale to large-scale as a result of aggressive advertising and increasing numbers of users. Gross receipts of even the small concessions grew tremendously. For example, the Spring Canyon food stand's receipts rose from $490 in 1987 to $10,500 in 1988, and Keller Ferry's gross receipts climbed from $147,700 in 1987 to over $1,100,000 in 1990. Concession franchise fees paid to the Park Service remained low throughout the decade, however ($5,500 in 1989). As concession operations grew, LARO personnel spent more and more of their time on the issue. In 1985, the equivalent of almost two staff members was devoted to concession management, and eventually a full-time Concession Specialist position for LARO was funded. [109]

Houseboats came onto Lake Roosevelt in force beginning in 1987, when the CCT established Roosevelt Recreational Enterprises (RRE) to operate recreational facilities on the lake. In the spring of that year, the CCT acquired two small marina concessions at Keller Ferry (Lakeview) and Seven Bays, neither of which borders one of the two reservations. RRE hired an experienced marina manager, accomplished extensive facility improvements, and obtained ten houseboats. The CCT reported that one reason they established RRE was because they knew they could hold their own business accountable to mitigate any adverse consequences resulting from their part in the increased visitation to Lake Roosevelt. Perhaps most significantly for LARO, RRE initiated an aggressive marketing campaign to promote Lake Roosevelt and houseboat rentals, particularly to the Seattle market. The first-year efforts were successful; RRE booked nearly 80 percent of its houseboats during the 1987 prime season, and the following year 60 percent of the houseboat renters were repeat users. In 1988, the company added twenty more houseboats to its fleet. By August 1988, RRE had invested some $3 million in the two concessions, including money from a Housing and Urban Development grant. [110]

Soon, the RRE houseboat operation at Keller Ferry expanded to thirty-three boats and was changed from permit to contract status. By 1990, the concessionaire planned to have a new store/restaurant, maintenance building, boat rental office, expanded parking, and grading of the harbor area. RRE also planned improvements at Seven Bays, including a new store/restaurant and additional docks. The gross receipts at both these marinas increased greatly between 1987 and 1988 to over $1 million. The CCT paid 3 percent of its gross receipts for the two marinas to the Park Service. By 1988, it was employing twenty people year-round, with over twenty seasonals. Both marinas, as well as LARO's other concessions, continued to expand rapidly in the early 1990s, and marketing efforts began to focus on promoting the spring and fall months. [112]

Because of the success with houseboats on Lake Roosevelt in 1987, concession operators asked the Park Service to be allowed to provide additional rental boats at several marinas. In 1988, LARO prepared an environmental assessment of rental houseboats on Lake Roosevelt. The plan (later included in the 1991 Concession Management Plan) established a lake-wide limit of 200 rental houseboats and 250 other rental motorized boats, distributed to marinas throughout the lake. Ten years later, the houseboat fleet had expanded to 40 out of Keller Ferry and 13 out of Kettle Falls. Some members of the public were concerned about impacts on the shoreline from large parties and about the visual impacts of the houseboats themselves. [113]

In the late 1980s, the STI also began to get into the business of providing concessions on Lake Roosevelt. The tribe hired a consulting firm to recommend alternatives for lakefront development sites within the reservation. The confluence of the Spokane and Columbia rivers was determined to have the most immediate potential, followed by McCoy's Marina, an existing small store and gas station. The firm recommended that the confluence site be developed with an RV campground, rental houseboats, docks, rental fishing and speedboats, store, picnic areas, beach area, viewpoint with interpretive information, bingo/gaming parlor, cultural center, and motel. In 1995, the STI completed a one-hundred-slip marina, store, and fuel and pump-out facilities at its Two Rivers Casino and Marina at the confluence site. Spokane was the major market for this new facility. By 1998, the complex also had a launch ramp, rental boat slips, campground, RV sites, and large pavilion. The STI now also contracts with a company that provides a few rental houseboats at this location. [114]

In 1986, the tribes and Park Service personnel began to work together to prepare a Concession Management Plan for Lake Roosevelt even though a new multi-party agreement for lake management had not yet been negotiated. The CCT had protested Park Service plans to sign a concession agreement with a concessionaire in the fall of 1985, and this may have prompted the start of the discussions. Denver Service Center staff and the Bureau of Indian Affairs also helped with the planning efforts, and a draft plan was produced in 1987. [115]

The Park Service, STI, CCT, Reclamation, and Bureau of Indian Affairs signed the Lake Roosevelt Concession Management Plan in January 1991. LARO and tribal personnel saw the plan as key to keeping the lake and its shoreline uncrowded, as visitors preferred. The plan restricts development to the four existing areas and five additional sites distributed along the lakeshore (Moonbeam Bay, confluence zone, Upper Spokane Arm, Inchelium, and Crescent Bay). Under the plan, 45 percent of the concession facilities will be within the reservations. The total number of houseboats is limited to 200. Each development zone defined in the plan can have a general store, snack bar and/or restaurant, lodging, RV sites, boat service and repair, and dry storage for boats (except Spring Canyon, which is limited to food service only). The actual development will be in response to public demand, and proposals for new services will not be approved until economic feasibility studies have been completed. [116]

In the early 1990s, the CCT began evaluating sites along Lake Roosevelt for a major new resort. A survey of tribal members found that the Inchelium area was the most popular site. The tribes hired the same architectural firm that had designed Idaho's Coeur d'Alene Resort to design their resort on Bissel Flats near Inchelium. It would include houseboat rentals through Roosevelt Recreational Enterprises, golf course, log cabins, interpretive center, lodge, campground, marina, and perhaps a casino. In 1994, the CCT began looking at the possibility of building a motel-restaurant-gaming complex at North Marina, on land it would trade with Reclamation. So far, nothing has been built on the reservation side between the dam and Keller Ferry. [117]

The 1992 Vail Agenda made several recommendations concerning Park Service concessions Servicewide: establish a more coherent concession policy, improve accounting procedures; introduce more competition into the process; realize higher returns from concessionaires; and recognize creative contributions to the Park Service mission by concessionaires. In 1991, the renewal of concession permits and contracts at LARO that expired at the end of 1990 was delayed because of new Servicewide concession policy. The following year, both the Keller Ferry and Seven Bays concessionaires were issued new fifteen-year contracts. [118]

By the 1990s, with the increasing visitation to LARO, Park Service staff was expressing the need for additional concession operations besides the existing Spring Canyon snack bar and the three marinas at Keller Ferry, Seven Bays, and Kettle Falls. They also recognized the need for a plan that would assess cumulative effects before much more new development was undertaken. Putting fishing guides and other commercial users such as boat rentals and parasailing businesses under permit, consistent with Park Service regulations, was also proposed. LARO's Concession Analyst, George Phillips, began developing concession policies for the NRA. A new concession building was constructed at Spring Canyon and opened for operation by RRE in 1998. LARO's other concessions in 1998 were Keller Ferry and Seven Bays (both also operated by RRE), Kettle Falls (Lake Roosevelt Resort and Marina), and Daisy Station (under a Park Service incidental business permit). [119]

The Park Service has long wanted a deep-water marina at the northern end of Lake Roosevelt that could be open year-round. Problems with the Kettle Falls marina, particularly with the shallow harbor, have been a management issue at LARO since at least the 1950s. Although the harbor was dredged in 1951, 1985, and 1990, the concessionaire has had to relocate his facilities each winter in anticipation of spring drawdowns. In the late 1980s, alternatives were examined and management objectives were drawn up for Kettle Falls. The Park Service considered the concessionaire's plan to expand his marina operations to Lions Island, but this location was found to be too exposed. A 1993 Environmental Assessment proposed developing a marina in the Colville Flats area (on the south bank of the Colville River, at its confluence with Lake Roosevelt), about one mile downstream from the existing marina. This site was also found unsuitable because of wetlands, wildlife, and cultural resources considerations. [120]

Once LARO had determined that a full-service marina could not be located at Colville Flats, a downsized proposal was first put out for public review but then shelved until the General Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement were produced. Meanwhile, a drawdown in July 1994 caused the concessionaire to move his rental docks out of the harbor during the visitor season for the first time. Ed Wimberly, owner of Lake Roosevelt Vacations, requested permission to move certain docks to an area east of Colville Flats, but this was denied. In the end, the Park Service prepared a Design Concept Plan for Kettle Falls in conjunction with the new General Management Plan. Besides the shallow harbor limiting use of the facilities, other problems included overcrowding, the need to haul sewage to Kettle Falls, and the lack of an overall design theme for facilities. Alternative 1 proposed that the concessionaire would fund new deep-water moorage facilities at the Kettle Falls north marina site where some of the operations would be relocated. [121]