CANYON COUNTY – A 15-year federal management plan for Lake Lowell is nearly complete. Still, some are worried recreation on the lake will change.
The public input period for the Final Comprehensive Conservation Plan ended in March, but not before area businesses, boaters and anglers expressed a lot of concern with the possibility of no boating in the plan.
"I would just really kind of like to see it left alone the way it is," said Bink Desaro. He owns the Golden Wheel drive-thru restaurant on Fairview Avenue in Boise, but has been bass fishing on the lake for close to 40 years.
If you drive by his burger joint, you will see his reader board out front says, "Don't mess with Lake Lowell."
'Basically what my sign out there says, has to do with the power boating issue they have out there," said Desaro, who is not alone in that feeling.
When the final draft was revealed, a section in the document caught many by surprise: the part where no boating was allowed.
"Because there are increasing pressures of public use on the refuge, we do want to make sure that wildlife is still going to be around here for everybody to enjoy," said Deer Flat Wildlife Refuge Manager Annette de Knijf.
She said that ultimately the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service saw the impact and did away with the no-wake proposal.
In response, the Canyon County state delegation, made up of five senators and 10 representatives, got together to publicly oppose it.
On Thursday inside the Statehouse, they spoke about the resolution.
"We have got to make sure that this lake is open to recreation for our families," said District 11 Sen. Patti-Ann Lodge.
'With our congressional delegation and citizens and the local legislators expressing such concern, they really listened to us and we appreciated that and I think we have got a plan that really takes care of all our needs," said District 13 Sen. Curt McKenzie.
Still, there are restrictions tentatively in place. The wake zones will be on the south end of the lake and in the narrows.
"We try to balance all the public uses with the protection of the wildlife," said de Knijf.
De Knijf says they chose what is known as "Alternative Two" from the plan, which limits where wake is allowed and balances habitat with seasonal closures.
"All the uses that we have had traditionally are still going to be allowed on this lake on this refuge," she said.
