Should seaplanes be allowed on Waldo Lake? It's under discussion
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A state agency says it wants to make permanent its rules allowing aircraft to use Waldo Lake in the Cascade Range, where lake users for years have fought over engines.
The Eugene Register-Guard says advocates of a ban won a large part of the argument in the spring, when the state Marine Board voted 3-2 to keep its ban on motorboat internal combustion engines on Waldo.
But the board exempted seaplanes, and the state Aviation Board allowed them with temporary rules. It has set a public hearing in Springfield for Jan. 31 on permanent rules.
A department official says that six seaplanes used the lake last summer.
Information from: The Register-Guard
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
Only if there is a non-smoking section
Where's Waldo?
Can we raise hands of all of those that have been to Waldo? My family has been going there since the '50's. Well before it became a Wilderness area. From the '50's to now, there has been essentially no change to the lake. What has changed is zealots that campaign needlessly for banning things. I started going there consistently in '87. There was a 10mph speed limit on the lake then. There was never any abuse of that rule. It was an occasional fisherman firing up his little motor and tooling across the lake to hike and fish. Or it was a sailboat putting along under power until it could get to the main body of the lake. I'll tell you how banning motors on the lake has personally touched me - I can't take my grandparents on their favorite hikes now. We used to be able to put across the lake and access the flat trails that are across the lake. From there it was an easy hike into some of the smaller scenic lakes. That option is now off the table.Â
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And for what? Will someone please show me the studies that show how much the lake has benefited since engines were banned? IT'S ONE OF THE PUREST LAKES IN THE WORLD. It always has been. There's been motorboats on that lake for DECADES. The only people that used them are the ones that respected the lake and wanted to fish or access some of the other attributes therein.Â
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If someone wants to fly a plane there, I'm all for it. It's an amazing thing to see a float plane takeoff and land. Just like it's an amazing thing to be able to putt across the lake and explore. Come off your high horses and let this lake be. It will not be abused. Never has been.
@Beaver Wayne: Why dont you paddle your grandparents across the lake in a canoe? I've done it before many times, it's not hard at all. Waldo is one of the purest lakes in the world, just like Lake Tahoe used to be before it was ruined. Go to Detroit if you want to spew gasoline, noise, and exhaust everywhere.
 @Beaver And thank you for proving my point. Ridiculous assertions that Waldo lake will fall into oblivion if not protected is laughable. Let me be clear - Motorboats have been on that lake for DECADES. There was a 10mph speed limit on the lake. There was no waterskiing or wakeboarding, etc.. Do you know the most damage that has been done to the lake? The forest fire that ripped through there. The uncontrolled runoff of debris had way more impact to the turbidity of the lake than anything visitors have done. And guess what? It's still as pure as the driven snow. (Pun intended as it is a glacially filled lake.)
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To that extent - did you know that divers refer to Waldo as 'dead' lake? There is exceedingly little marine life in the lake, because there is very little naturally occurring algae. It is already inhospitable for life. Man did not create that environment, nature did.
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Come back and chat when you have evidence that the 3 campgrounds that surround the second largest lake in Oregon could produce enough pollution from the very few boats that are used to have an adverse effect on the lake. Giddyup.
Abso-effing-lutely not.
Took a look on Sat imagery. We're not talking a lake that has to be hiked to being the only way to get there. I could understand if it was some hike in lake like Hanks or Pamelia, but ffs... someone drives up there leaving thier big diesel running and that will make just as much noise or more and I am sure happens daily considering the location west of La Pine.
It's one thing to have a bunch drunken wake-boarders running back and forth along the lake all day, creating both noise, continual wake and general unpleasantness for all other users - not to mention the pollution left from boat exhaust and their occupants. I.e., beer cans, Cheetohs bags, etc.
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It's quite another to have a single plane fly into a limited portion of the lake and quietly stay put until it's time to leave.  That's right. Repeated operations are not allowed, nor are early morning and late evening flights.Â
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As for noise, there doesn't seem to be too much fuss over, generators, radios, chainsaws, loud motorcycles, cars, dogs, shrieking kids or drunk adults. I say we ban these offenders of our peace and quiet.
I'm willing to bet hikers, campers, mountain bikes leave a LOT more pollution and do exponentially more damage than seaplanes ever will.Â
You would think from the Sierra club kooks that seaplanes are nothing but a rampant menace.
Seriously, does anyone know how many total seaplane operations were there last summer on Waldo Lake - after reporting became mandatory under temporary rules??
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 @Conspirator I agree. If it was even really 30+ minutes at a time I could almost agree... but I can't imagine any warmup and takeoff of a float plane taking all that long...
No seaplanes at all, ever.
No seaplanes.
A lot of you good people won't understand-- there are a host of folks who enjoy going to the mountains and what few intact forests actually still exist and . . . . **gasp!** . . . . actually enjoy the sounds of the forest without man-made noise to interrupt it. This lake is as near to pristine as it is possible to be with the type of use allowed up to this point.Â
LEAVE WALDO LAKE ALONE!
I think I need a bumper sticker! Anyone know where these may be found?
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<LEAVE WALDO LAKE ALONE!>
Good grief, this is important? Fish can fly, at least some of them, so why not allow planes to land on water, as ducks do? Hopefully, those considering this as "under discussion" will not drown in discussion. On the other hand, talk is cheap!Â
I'm a pilot and a boater, and it sounds like a blast. But I think if there's a ban on motorized watercraft, it should apply to the seaplane the instant the airplane touches the water. And then it's stuck there. That's how the FAA would interpret this were it up to them, but, really, if people have agreed not to put motorized vehicles on the lake, then, don't. There are an uncountable number of lakes in Oregon that you can't even GET to without an airplane.
 @Playanekes But a sea plane doesn't vent its exhaust directly into the water like a boat engine does. I say let them land on it.
 @Beergod  @Playanekes It sounds like a good idea to let planes land right until one of them flips and spills all of their fuel into the lake.  There are plenty of other places to land planes other than a lake known for some of the clearest water in the world.
 @Siwash  @Conspirator  @Beergod  @Playanekes If it's one or two lakes you want, I'll give you one or 4. How 'bout Kiwa? And Upper and Lower Rigdon? Perhaps Harvey? Or Helen Lake? There are soooooooo many lakes in that immediate area that are free of boat motors it is amazing. It's been impossible to get motors to some of those lakes. And they are in the exact same condition that Waldo is in, and Waldo has had motors on it for years.Â
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Just 'sayin.
 @Conspirator  @Beergod  @Playanekes I would not care if they did.  I think it is OK to keep 1 or 2 really nice lakes to electric motors only.
@Conspirator You are correct, more accidents happen at boat ramps by people fogetting to set the emergency brake than anywhere else. I am a pilot, and where there are incidents of floatplanes crashing, it's very rare. I have flown to places similar with a paraplegic friend I take up occasionally, and the enjoyment he got was worth the trip. The only flight he liked better, was the low pass by the nudy beach!
 @Siwash  @Beergod  @Playanekes Then we should ban motor vehicles on the chance that one could accidentally roll down a boat ramp and create the same pollution hazard.
 @Siwash  @Playanekes A little aviation fuel won't affect clarity.
 @Playanekes Somebody hire this guy.  Common sense prevails!