Table Rock Buoy Removal and Massive Boat Wakes

[dtrs5kprs]

Shoreline erosion, and the water quality angle, are going to be a key parts of making headway with this. Perhaps even to the point of contacting some of the various, and generally not well liked, environmental groups. 

 

[Browning Guy]

2 hours ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Shoreline erosion, and the water quality angle, are going to be a key parts of making headway with this. Perhaps even to the point of contacting some of the various, and generally not well liked, environmental groups. 

 

Now we're working on ideas and thinking through various options to try to at least slow the chaos.  Thanks for the input DTRS.  I've been thinking the same on the enviro angle, but unsure where or who to go to.  The last thing a politician wants is a record of not protecting the environment or any headlines showing he/she's record of destroying the environment.     

[dtrs5kprs]

1 hour ago, BrowningCollector.com said:

Now we're working on ideas and thinking through various options to try to at least slow the chaos.  Thanks for the input DTRS.  I've been thinking the same on the enviro angle, but unsure where or who to go to.  The last thing a politician wants is a record of not protecting the environment or any headlines showing he/she's record of destroying the environment.     

Exactly. And some of those groups are fairly effective.

If you could show harm to endangered species, water quality, etc...

[m&m]

Here is my 2 cents worth...

1) everyone is correct that we must send letters to the elected officials. 

2) we must state the safety concerns and the environmental impact.

3) we must offer solutions that allow people who have a passion for fishing and those that have a passion for pleasure boating can coexist on TRL. 

Examples:

can there be no wake areas?

can there be speed limits imposed on boats over a certain length?

can certain coves be off limits to boats over a certain length?

can boats over a certain length be restricted to certain hours of operation?

can enforcement of buoy maintenance be increased?

can marinas be held responsible for educating the people who rent boats about the TRL regulations?

can signage be installed at every boat ramp that alerts boaters to the 100' no wake rule?

i could go on and on but the reality is that the big boats are not going away so we have to offer solutions regarding coexistence.

Lastly, I agree with the comment about engaging Mr. Morris. After all, his fortune was made from people who fish. We should write individual letters to him asking for his support.

all of this may be no better than spitting into the wind but if we don't voice our opinions we will have to live with the recommendations that were submitted by others.  

Thanks to all who have and will voice their opinion. I'll be writing my letters today.

Mike

[Matt Henry]

The elected officials to contact are:

Senator Roy Blunt

senate.gov

you can send your suggestions through on his web site.

and. Billy Long.  House.gov. 

His comment link was not working earlier in the week so you may need to send a letter.

These are the two representative who can influence the corps behavior.  

Please Speak Out.  

[96 CHAMP]

US Army Corps of Engineers revisits two Table Rock Lake proposals
http://www.ky3.com/content/news/US-Army-Corps-of-Engineers-revisits-two-Table-Rock-Lake-proposals-438577873.html

[m&m]

Thank you to all who provided comments. At least the COE threw out a tease in the article. Don't forget to follow it up with a communication to the elected officials. 

Mike

[skeeter]

From what I've seen on the Lake of the Ozarks OA Forum where our "growing-problem" is even worse, the posts have said the Water Patrol claims there are no State laws in existence limiting boat speeds in combination with length.  There is not even a law making the boat owner responsible for damages that their Vessel's boat wake causes !   

The link to the KY3 article says dock owners are concerned with boat wakes from boats that are "speeding-by" which is NOT what produces these ginormous wakes from ballast-adding Wake Boats....it's their deliberate, slow-speed "plowing" meant specifically to produce a huge wake so one inconsiderate individual can pretend they are in the Ocean and "surf" the wake or jump their wakeboard over the wake while everyone else trying to share the Lake is forced to endure the effects of their play-toy's huge wake.

Kudos to those writing their Congressmen but I think we need to start writing our State Legislators too and get them to pass laws limiting large boat speeds and making boat owners responsible for the damages their ridiculous-sized wakes do.  Until those laws are on the books, the Water Patrol claims they are powerless as proven by the one LOZ poster who said the dock owner had video proof of the passing boat and the $1500 in damages it caused.  

 

[Ketchup]

Boat speed have little to do with anything other than that of safety, after a certain MPH.  I used to own a Wakeboard boat and would take my son and his neighbor friends to the lake after school started in Aug. at 6am so they could get better at what they loved, rush home 10 minutes from the ramp, and take them to school.  As stated, its the added water ballast at "slow" speeds that make the wakes, at times depending on how much ballast was added, 3' high.  I can say tho, that we never got close to other boats, boarded where there were docks "We were only ever on Pomme"  and stayed as center of the channel as we could. A boat running fast has less wake than a boat plowing, of any size boat. I say go fast for less damage, unless your in a cove area. 

[Browning Guy]

State Legislative Representative Look up -  http://www.senate.mo.gov/LegisLookup/ZipLookup.aspx

Claire McCaskill - https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/contact

Roy Blunt - https://www.blunt.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/home

Billy Long - https://long.house.gov/

Find your U.S. Congressional Representative - https://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

I will post the letter I sent to my Reps next week along with the info above. Most likely on a new sticky as to refresh the conversation to more of "the next step of call to action".  From what I heard at the Reeds meeting the COE is well aware of the massive boat wakes, but are limited to their "leaders" in D.C.  The Corps official I spoke with politely said that "folks need to voice their concerns to Washington" if they want to try to stop the chaos. In the conversation, I felt as though the Corps rep was saying..... please help us.  Contacting the State of Missouri Reps wouldn't hurt, but it is a Corps lake.

Another thought would be to try to get KY3, KOLR 10 and KSPR 33 to do a story on the shoreline erosion, dock destruction and safety issues of having massive boats and wake board and surf board boats on a lake the size of TR.  Any leads on that process would be great.  Looking at the Water Patrol stats of accidents and deaths / history of.......... would be a good thing to introduce to the media.