Lost Seaplane Bases Project

Ross Lake National Recreation Area

As many seaplane pilots are aware, the National Park Service is creating a management plan for Ross Lake National Recreation Area in Washington which would affect a wide variety of activities and, as proposed, would severely restrict (and essentially eliminate) seaplane operations on the lake.  WSPA is leading the effort along with WPA, AOPA and the Seaplane Pilots Association to ensure that seaplanes will still have full access to the lake.

While the public comment period is currently closed, many members and staff have not only submitted comments, attended public meetings, but also our staff has continued negotiations behind closed doors at the Ross headquarters.  We are continuing on with a plan to retain as much access as possible.

We offer a sincere thank you to the seaplane pilots attending the meetings who presented our case in a professional and polite manner.  We reminded the National Park Service that it had already determined that seaplane operations only numbered one or two dozen a year at the lake and there was no history of complaints about seaplanes.  Pilots in attendance explained that limiting operations to certain areas of the lake wouldn’t be feasible because the aircraft often need to land near the center of the lake for wind conditions, water depth, obstructions, and docking facilities.

The NPS officials appeared to understand that the current proposal was not feasible nor was it fair to seaplane pilots.  Furthermore they saw the level of support for maintaining access for floatplanes.   

Bureau of Reclamation

In Apr'06 new rule making contained language which prohibited seaplane operation on over 400 water resources in 17 western states that are controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation. Over the following 2 years WSPA, CSPA along with other western state organizations in ID and MT were able to get the AOPA and SPA on board and took active position on this issue. 

BoR apparently over reacted to a directive where they had to respond to a new "Public Conduct Rule" issued by Homeland Security.  They really did over react!  But finally, December 11th, 2008, BoR published their Final Ruling effectivly reversing the origional ban.

In doing so, their proposal in September of '08 contained language removing  or excluding Seaplanes from the term Vessels while they are on the water.  This concerned many of us.  They also had used the term Managing Partners for the controlling agency for many of their waters and provided us with a useless list of contacts. We will be seeking any information you may receive and we will be working with the "Managing Partners"  to provide you with the best information we can.   

Help us to establish a history through documentation, and of course public relations.

Lake Isabel in the Wild Sky Wilderness Area 

As you may know, most if not all other wilderness areas ban seaplanes.  Wild Sky was written with the provision to allow "Floatplanes" to continue to operate at Lake Isabel.(do you think anyone will notice my Seabee isn't a floatplane?)

It had actually been 9 years in the making.  Wild Sky is no different in it's restriction of motorized vehicles and boats than any other wilderness area, EXCEPT for Floatplanes.  Yes, you heard that right.  As quoted from the bill, "Float Plane Access- As provided by section 4(d)(1) of the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(1)), the use of floatplanes on Lake Isabel, where such use has already become established, shall be permitted to continue subject to such reasonable restrictions as the Secretary of Agriculture determines to be desirable."

This is HUGE.  Did you notice the phrase, "where such use has already become established," the fact that we can still use it is because we did establish a history of previous use!  Membership participation with our legislators kept our interests in the spotlight during this long struggle to keep our access.  What does the Secretary of Agriculture have do with it?  I'm not sure. But, he can change this with a stroke of a pen.  

You can see how sensitive these issues can be.  Please be good stewards of these fabulous resources.

Missouri Breaks Still an Issue

The BLM final plan prohibits seaplanes from using the river, but allows other power vessels, even though the BLM admits they’ve still never seen a seaplane there and don’t know that there is really any problem.  It appears they have denied our access since we are not “locals” and they wanted to show environmentalists involved that they were being hard on aircraft somewhere in the plan (the BLM allowed several grass strips to remain and this has angered some of the environmental groups).

Two web sites to look at are, first the BLM site of the final report:
http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/lewistown_field_office/um_rmp_process/rmp.html 
And the second, the Friends of the Missouri Breaks web site showing what they are encouraging their members to object to, like the airstrips and use of the river by power boats:  http://www.missouribreaks.org/

 The BLM final plan says that seaplanes can use the river in an “emergency” which is something.  But the issue is that as a navigable river and a pathway for interstate commerce, the seaplane use should simply be allowed outright.  If it remains “emergency” use only, then: 

 1) the pilot is required to get into an emergency before using the river – rather than using the river before declaring an emergency as precautionary or just good judgment; the history of aviation accidents tells us this will predictably lead to serious accidents; and 

 2) there is the inevitable problem of what the definition of an “emergency” is, and park rangers are likely to give out a ticket anyway to be safe on their side, which would then require the pilot to return to a court in Montana to defend themselves – guilty until proven innocent.  

Aron Faegre, President
Columbia Seaplane Pilots Association