Quieter Acadia

Even as the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission and the National Park System continue to work on rules that would restrict personal watercraft on many lakes and ponds here and across the country, Acadia National Park already has rules in place, giving the park a three-fer. Acadia is the first national park in the country to ban jet skis by law; it is the first to accomplish through state rather than federal action; and the first to do it without a park-system-wide policy.

Acadia achieved these milestones through the Great Ponds law, which is what has LURC so busy these days. The law restricting the jet skis was particularly appropriate for the national park. There may be someplaces where these noisy recreational water craft belong, but they’re about as appropriate at Acadia as motorcyles on the carriage trails.

The National Park Service is considering ban on the jet skis at nine other parks, including Mount Ranier in Washington and Voyageurs in Minnesota. The Park Service might benefit from looking at how the ban works in Acadia this summer as it considers regulations elsewhere.

Though it may seem unfriendly to some to ban the personal watercraft, there is good reason for it. Besides the noise — the whine of one jet ski can ruin the tranquility for dozens of people lakeside — the craft are dangerous: though they account for 11 percent of the watercraft registered in the country, they are involved in 35 percent of the accidents involving vessels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports their accident rate is eight times higher than other power craft.

The industry has made some initial steps at trying to change this. Its Ride Smart, Save the Sport program encourges safer, more thoughtful behavior than what traditionally has been associated with the sport. But it has yet to solve the essential problem of the reason the personal watercraft were marketed in the first place, which was to let a rider go fast, make noise and generally whoop it up in a small area. It is the very design of the sport, not merely a few rude operators, that causes large numbers of Maine residents to object.

Acadia’s ban on jet skis is not yet complete, according to Kent Olson, president of the Friends of Acadia. The organization wants the ban extended to water bodies that border the park. “Jet Skis do not belong in or near Acadia, which is a national park, not an amusement park,” Mr. Olson said recently. Friends of Acaida almost got what in wanted in legislation last year that would have protected Long Pond. The bill passed in the Senate but failed by a few votes in the House. Expect that it will be back next year.

In the meantime, Maine residents can learn more about the jet-ski regulations by attending a workshop called “Jet skis and surface use of Maine’s lakes, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Saturday, July 18, at the Augusta Civic Center. The workshop is for anyone wanting to use the new law to develop municipal reccomendations on jet-ski use of local ponds.