Re: [Paddlewise] Paid rescues?

Wes Boyd wrote:
> 
> At 10:30 PM 9/29/00 -0700, Leroy E. Laskowski wrote:
> >Good Post Wes!
> >
> >My reply is that I already pay for rescues.  At least a small part of the $$
> >that I pay in Federal taxes should actually work.
> 
> Actually, I agree.
> 
> But . . . go to a national park, and they've got their hands out. Camp in a
> national forest campground, and they've got their hands out. User fees,
> everywhere you turn, and they're getting worse -- yet we've paid for all
> them with our tax dollars. Big deal. They'll get you however they can.

No problem with the user fee concept here, Wes, if the fees are reasonable. 
(But see my caveat below re:  Coast Guard).

In fact, probably paddlers need to toss some money into the hopper for launch
facilities, inasmuch as many of the traditional boat ramps are funded in part
by taxes extracted from the sale of fuel for power boats (at least here in
Oregon).  Yeah, sure, there is some "general fund" support, and I am taxed for
that, but if we were contributers to funds exclusively devoted to the
development and maintenance of marine facilities, we would have more clout when
it came time to design and site new ones.  I have beat that drum regularly on
this forum, and I think we are naive to expect public entities to do stuff for
us unless we have some visibility in the money stream which feeds those
governments and agencies.

That said, however, **by far** more money is spent rescuing power boaters than
is spent rescuing paddlers.  In fact the Coast Guard has a mandate to make the
waters safe for commercial and other traffic on marine waterways and navigable
rivers.  AFAIK, those funds come from my Federal taxes, and as a paddler, I
betcha I have contributed a lotta bucks over the years.  I figure I am "owed" a
rescue -- which I never plan to need!  I see funding of rescues in a different
light than the funding for launch facilities, etc.

I live at the mouth of the Columbia River, which entertains a horde of salmon
fishers in pleasure boats (sometimes up to 5000 at one time!), who demand
several "rescues" every day that horde is out there.  Admittedly, the number of
sea kayakers and canoeists out on the River around here never reaches the
population of power boaters, but a rescue now and then seems just part of what
we already paid for.

-- 
Dave Kruger
Astoria, OR

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