Washington State Skiers - Help Needed to save our course at Crescent Bar

[Jam man]

Hello fellow Washington skiers!

 

We are contacting you in hopes of banding together to help save waterskiing on the Columbia River. As you may have heard, the ski course at Crescent Bar was removed (in its entirety) by the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife earlier this week. Just as a quick recap and history regarding this course, it was removed by the WDFW late last summer after prompting by Grant County PUD. Discussions with the WDFW led us to believe that, as a non-permanent structure, the course could be in the cove on the Kittitas County side of the river so long as it was being used and then removed when not being used.

 

We are trying to contact officials at the Yakima Regional Office of the WDFW about getting the course back and to see what we can do to work together on this issue. That's where you come in. As in most cases - there is strength in numbers. If we all contact the WDFW, hopefully they will hear how popular this course has become over the 35+ years in as been in place. Below, we have provided the contact information for two key players - we encourage you to call and leave a message with your name, where you reside (we want to show that people from all across the state are skiing at Crescent Bar), and that you are interested in understanding why the course was removed and working with them to find a resolution to this issue. Please be respectful and professional. We really want to emphasis working WITH them rather than taking an antagonistic stance with them...and all the other agencies that are involved in this matter.

 

Please forward this email on to any other skiers you know who have enjoyed the course at Crescent Bar - again strength in numbers!

 

Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife

Pete Lopushinski

Wildlife Manager (Satellite office of Yakima Regional office)

509-663-6260

Ted Clausing

Yakima Regional Office (this is Pete's supervisor)

509-575-2740*

*this number will take you to an automated phone system where you can type the first few letters of his last name to be transferred to his voice mail.

[Nick Sullivan]

Left my Voice Mail

[jipster43]

The first tournament I went to was at Crescent Bar back in '83. I'll be leaving a voicemail shortly.

 

JP :)

[ShortlineCline]

The calls are having a very positive impact! An update will be posted soon.

[Jam man]

Crescent Bar ski course update- via the Cline's

 

Thank you all for your support and calls to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding the water ski course at Crescent Bar.

We heard from Ted Clausing with the WDFW today. He was very professional and interested in working with us. He is meeting with some of the regulatory agencies tomorrow to discuss the course and its future. Ted was fairly confident the course would be returned to our possession and that a plan could be worked out between the water skiers and the WDFW. The issue at the heart of the matter is the “semi permanent” nature of the under-water structure.

Additionally, the shallow water area where the course is located is actually part of the Colockum Wildlife Area, further complicating the usage goals of that part of the river.

If you called Ted, you can expect a phone call back with in the next few days – Ted stated he was going to start returning calls starting Tuesday morning. Should you have a chance to speak with him, please be respectful and courteous. It made an extremely good impression with him that the phone calls he did receive were very positive and had a collaborative feel.

It is important that we represent ourselves as responsible, family-oriented water sports enthusiasts who want to work with all the agencies involved to get the course up and running again while preserving the wildlife aspects of that portion of the river.

While we wait to hear about Ted’s meeting with the other regulatory agencies involved in this issue, we are exploring the idea of creating a Crescent Bar Water Ski Club. As a club, we can present ourselves - and our passion for waterskiing - in an organized fashion. Ted showed some interest in this idea, as it would give the WDFW a single “organization” to interface with regarding water usage. Minimal dues could be collected on an annual basis to help offset any permits and course maintenance costs, for example. As a club, we could arrange community and environmental related events such as a 'beach clean-up' day - an idea that seemed to appeal to Ted.

We will certainly keep you updated on how this plays out. We’ve started a database of those on this email distribution list. We’d be happy to add additional water skiers to the list – so please forward this email on and/or send us their contact information.

We are hopeful that we can all be back on the Columbia River running full passes soon…