WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington and Idaho boaters can again enjoy their freedom of recreational choice as Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area welcomes personal watercraft back to the Lake's boating mix just in time for the Independence Day weekend.

Two years after the National Park Service was required by a court settlement to begin prohibiting personal watercraft pending the results of scientific studies regarding the vessels' impact, Lake Roosevelt has completed the required environmental assessments and concluded that PWC are an appropriate boating activity for the National Recreation Area, effective Friday, June 25, 2004.

Five additional National Park Service units already welcome personal watercraft, eight units are in the final stages of the rulemaking process to re-allow the vessels, and scientific analyses on the effects of personal watercraft are currently underway at two National Seashores.

"We were confident that science would once again rule over bias, and confirm that PWC have no unique impact that justifies singling them out for discriminatory bans," said Jeff Ludwig, Regulatory Affairs Manager at the Personal Watercraft Industry Association. "The Lake Roosevelt re-opening continues a trend of National Park Service findings that there is a place for PWC in units of the National Park system that allow other forms of motorized boating. I applaud the National Park Service for completing this process in time to allow the public to use their PWC at Lake Roosevelt for the 2004 boating season, and encourage the NPS to work as expediently as possible to finish the rulemaking process in other units currently considering allowing resumed PWC use."

Often referred to by their trade names—Jet Ski, WaveRunner, Sea-Doo Polaris, and AquaTrax, personal watercraft were banned from most National Recreation Areas, Lakeshores and Seashores in 2002 as a result of a 2000 lawsuit between an anti-boating group and the National Park Service. Each unit that seeks to reopen to PWC is required to complete a comprehensive scientific study of PWC impact on the local environment and economy and prepare a rule allowing continued PWC use. Lake Roosevelt has completed this process and has determined that PWC have no unique impact on its waterways.

"In fact, in every instance where a scientific assessment has measured the impact of PWC on a public body of water where motorized boating is permitted, modern PWC have been found to be appropriately included in multiple-use waterways management plans," said Ludwig. "It's unfortunate that the national parks had to prohibit PWC use in the first place based on what science is proving to be frivolous accusations made by an extremist anti-boating group."