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Late in 2022, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department ran an online survey that asked respondents about the operation of motorized and jet boats on the Rogue River along the TouVelle State Recreation Site.

More than 1,600 responses were logged in a tad more than a month — with opponents staunchly objecting to their use for environmental and safety reasons, and proponents saying they enjoyed the service that offered a unique perspective on the area.

Rogue Jet Boat Adventures, the business that has been at the center of the debate, has operated for 13 years along an area five miles upstream and downstream of TouVelle.

The company, which the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office reports has never been cited for unsafe operations, said it booked about 14,000 passengers for its thrice-daily trips last year.

A year and a half later, the sides are still in their respective corners, and the state apparently has decided what is needed is — you guessed it — another survey.

Oregon’s Kitchen Table, a state-hired consulting group out of Portland State University, will be gathering opinions in May and June through outreach events on, according to project lead Eliot Feenstra, how people feel “about their desires, vision and beliefs for resource management and natural resources protection on this stretch of the river.”

With all due respect … we know. So, too, do the state agencies responsible for parks, river patrols, state lands and fish and wildlife — for which Oregon’s Kitchen Table’s work is being conducted.

But, surely, this time some definitive action will be taken, right? Right?

Well …

Feenstra told the Jackson County Board of Commissioners at a recent meeting that the report on the outreach effort — which will include (once again) online surveys — will be headed over to the state agencies in August.

“We’re not the decision-maker,” Feenstra told the board, adding later that “We’re not asking people directly ‘Jet boats: Yes or no?’”

Commissioner Colleen Roberts and County Administrator Danny Jordan pushed back on why the opinion-gathering wasn’t going to include the central point of the debate.

“I think (the public) should know. Do they want multi-use on the river or not?” Roberts said. “That’s what I see is the ultimate decision to be made here.”

It’s a really good question.

It is, frankly, the most important question.

And it’s likely the only question that all those with a stake in this issue would agree needs to be settled.

A year ago, a Rogue Valley Times feature story on the on the jet boat operation prompted a flurry of letters from both sides of the debate. In response, we offered a reminder about the waterway’s unique position in our community:

“We are all stewards — stakeholders, if not the actual owners — of the Rogue River. It belongs to all of us, and to none of us. … In that regard, it’s as much our neighbor as those who take advantage of its gifts.”

A year later, though, and nothing much looks like it will change. The jet boat operation will resume. Visitors will return to TouVelle to take advantage of what the park has to offer. A state-sponsored effort will gather the same opinions, for and against, that the previous state survey collected. The same, probably, as the next survey will, as well.

Maybe some finality will come to this contentious issue. Maybe. Or maybe the reports will be filed to the state agencies in August, and more deliberations will take place at the state level, and next year we’ll be back where we started.

Meanwhile, the river will roll along.