Home / Take Action Posts / Tell the Marine Board that You Support a Safer Lower Willamette

Tell the Marine Board that You Support a Safer Lower Willamette

High speeds and large wakes caused by motorboats, some specially designed to create large wakes, have made Ross Island Natural Area an unsafe place for paddlers, damaged riparian habitat, and disrupted wildlife.

The Oregon State Marine Board is currently considering expanding motor boat regulations around Ross Island in ways that would improve both public safety and increase protections for wildlife and their habitat. Specifically the Marine Board is considering:

Take Action

Email comments by the end of the Day on Sunday, January 24 to osmb.rulemaking@oregon.gov. Please write the Oregon State Marine Board today and let them know that you support the staff proposals to:

    1. Establish a Pass Through Zone west of Ross Island between May 1 and September 30. A pass through zone allows boaters to maintain speeds while transiting through this area, but prohibits  towing people or devices or exceeding 5 mph if just circling around in this high traffic and ecologically sensitive area.
    2. Prohibit wake creating and other hazardous activity in the vicinity of docks and homes between Waverly Marina and Willamette Falls.
    3. Prohibit wake surfing between Waverly Marina and Willamette Falls.
    4. Urge the Marine Board to add an additional provision to create a Slow-No Wake Zone around Elk Rock Island.

Learn more. 

Photo by Mike Houck

Explore More Topics

A photo of a crowd gathered to watch a bird be released back into the wild.

Get Involved
Dead birds at Tule Lake in Klamath due to botulism

Pressroom
Cedar Waxwing on an osoberry plant, eating the plum fruit of it.

Blog