The Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) introduced Senate Bill (SB) 47 into the Oregon Legislature on January 2019. The summary of the bill states that the measure would require persons operating non-motorized boats to have waterway access permits. It would eliminate the...
I had a nice conversation with Ashley Massey, public relations officer at OSMB, about HB 2320. She informed me that OSMB will not be pursuing any other legislation down the road regarding non-motorized boating in light of the defeat of HB 2320. Instead, she said OSMB w...
Boaters of all types converged in Salem, Oregon, March 1 for a public hearing on two Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) measures introduced in the Oregon Legislature that would impact non-motorized boaters. Many paddlers came to speak out against HB 2320 that would impos...
The Oregon State Marine Board is bringing before the Legislature two bills that will impact non-motorized boats. There seems to be some confusion in the wording of the bills, so let me clarify the wording before you read the bills. The bills use the terms non-motorized...
Over this past summer and fall, the Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) held several meetings throughout the state to gather comments from paddlers regarding issues having to do with access, education, fees, and safety. OSMB has finally compiled all of the comments and ma...
I must admit that early on I wasn't keen to the idea of the Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) proposing a fee to non-motorized boaters to help pay for facilities and educational materials. Few of us like fees of any sort, and most of us don’t like government intruding i...
I had the opportunity to participate in Oregon Parks and Recreation’s (OPRD) Oregon Trail Planning Workshop in Salem last night. The purpose of the workshop was to help determine where Oregon should invest funds for new motorized and non-motorized trails. OPRD conducts...
I received information from the Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) this morning summarizing the comments/inputs they have received from the meetings they have been holding around Oregon these past two month.
The one thing that really jumps out at me from the reports I hav...
I had the opportunity to attend the second round of meetings the Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) is holding with non-motorized boaters. The meeting was intended to gather additional comments from paddlers who weren't in attendance at the June meetings and to fill thos...
Dr. Kreg Lindberg, professor at OSU’s Cascade Campus, sent a survey link to randomly selected non-motorized boaters to get their input on various factors related to paddling in Oregon. He’s conducting the survey on behalf of Oregon Parks and Recreation (OPRD). Those se...