FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Oregon State Marine Board Proposes Protections for Waldo Lake

Rule would create largest gas motor-free lake in Oregon

Long time Waldo Lake advocated, Oregon Wild, cheers new proposed rule to limit gas motor use.

The Oregon State Marine Board is now accepting public comment on a long-awaited proposal to protect Oregon’s second largest lake from the harmful effects of internal-combustion motor use. The proposed rule would implement a gas motor ban on and around Waldo Lake, a quiet recreation haven southeast of Eugene. For years, Oregon Wild and other quiet recreation advocates worked with the U.S. Forest Service to draft a rule to maintain the purity of Waldo’s waters and preserve the outdoor experience at the lake.

“Keeping Waldo peaceful and pure by eliminating gas motor use has been something in the works for a decade, and I couldn’t be more excited that these protections are finally nearing the finish line,” said Steve Pedery, Conservation Director for Oregon Wild, a non-profit advocacy group that has worked to defend Waldo Lake for over three decades.

The Marine Board proposal follows closely a U.S. Forest Service rule that was set to go into effect this summer at the lake. Steven Stewart, heir to the Stewart family timber fortune, challenged the rule in court. A federal judge determined that larger legal issues pertaining to ownership and management of the lake could preclude the Forest Service from implementing the rule. Since that time, natural resources staff for Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has worked to craft a similar rule for the state to implement.

“One hundred year from now it won’t matter whether the state or feds protected Waldo Lake,” concluded Pedery. “All that will matter will be that the lake was kept pristine wild.”

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