Residents on Lake Cascade are not in immediate danger of losing their docks, a Bureau of Reclamation official said.
The fate of those structures depends on decisions in Washington D.C., and implementing new rules would affect all water bodies under control of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and not just Lake Cascade.
Dock owners along the lake, which is a reservoir, owned and operated by the B of R, panicked after reading the proposed new rules which prohibited boat houses, docks, moorings and launch ramps, as well as moored vessels used as homes or places of business.
Reclamation manages water bodies and contiguous lands in 17 western states, and public response has varied across that area. Response in some areas has not been adverse to the proposed rules, said Tino Tafoya, deputy area manager at the B of R's Snake River Area West office in Boise.
In response to a question about complaints about the B of R denying dock permits in recent years, Tafoya said denials likely were due to docks not being placed according to what owners' permits said or because payments were not made on administrative fees.
A final decision on the rules is still a long way off, and until then dock owners still have use of their docks, he said.
"Our expectation is until a final decision and we get direction from the commissioner's office is to continue business as we're doing it now," he said.
Federal officials are encouraging people to submit comments on the rules on or before Oct. 16.
Warren Sedlacek of the B of R's office in Cascade emphasized these are draft rules.
"That's why we are encouraging everybody to make their comments by (Oct. 16). Whatever the final decision is on these rules is how we will enforce them," Sedlacek said.
Tafoya said dock owners would not necessarily lose their docks. Parts of the proposed rules indicate methods for getting existing uses renewed or extended, Tafoya said.
Final rules could stay the same as those in the draft or change after comments are considered. The final outcome depends on what the bureau commissioner in Washington D.C. decides and not on local or state officials, he said.
"If it's (denying docks) the right thing to do will have to come from commissioner's office in Washington D.C. I cannot say how it will settle out until all is said and done," Tafoya said.
Once the final rule is approved, a policy national in scope and not specific to Lake Cascade would be developed by the B of R's Office of Policy and Program Services under the commissioner, and the regional office would be responsible for implementing the policy.
The proposed new rules came about because the agency is determined to be consistent in managing lands and water bodies under its jurisdiction. The bureau has an obligation to avoid the appearance of granting exclusive use of federal resources to specific individuals, Tafoya said.
Unprecedented growth and development in the region have added new pressures that Lake Cascade has not seen in the past 35 or more years, Tafoya said. As a result, B of R needs to ensure that federal resources are protected, he said.
