The rumble of jet boats can be heard again at TouVelle State Recreation Site north of Medford, where Rogue Jet Boat Adventures has begun its season, taking people young and old on high-speed trips on the Rogue River.

The thrill of a jet boat ride delights thousands of company passengers every year, but the boats are not so delightful for others, including fishermen, environmentalists, riverfront property owners and at least one state legislator. Some jet boat opponents are again proposing a ban on the boats upstream of the park. And four state agencies have embarked on an outreach effort to obtain public sentiment about use of the river.

This time of year, school groups are among those riding the boats, which stop at the company’s private park along the river where there’s a private lake for boating and swimming, a picnic area with food and drinks and areas for lawn games, camping and concerts. A group of fifth-graders from Jewett Elementary School in Central Point got a boat ride and time to play at the private park on May 10 as part of its outdoor school program.

As the students waited to board at TouVelle, teacher Kim Elmer explained that the youngsters had been studying the Rogue River this year and had made three field trips to study it. They learned about native inhabitants, the Table Rocks and other river-related topics as part of the school’s science and social studies curriculum.

“They get such a deeper connection than being in the classroom,” Elmer said.

Emily Grimes, who owns the jet boat business with her husband, Taylor, greeted the excited youngsters and told them how it once cost a few cents to get across the river there by ferry.

“You had to talk to the ferry man to get you across,” she said.

Now, Table Rock Road bridges the river there.

The children boarded just downstream of the bridge, on the river’s north side, across the river from the park’s main day-use area. The boats pulled in to shore bow first, and the children stepped aboard using a portable ladder with handrails. Once seated and instructed on what’s to come, they pulled away and sped off upriver.

The boats went past the adjacent Kenneth Denman Wildlife Area, where they left a wake of maybe 6 inches where water met shore. No other boats were on the water at the park during the time the boats were there and gone upstream, about an hour.

Mathew Clark of Eagle Point was at the park with his wife and young children, hiking a nature trail, when the boats went by. He was asked about them.

“It sucks when they go by when you’re fishing,” he replied. “The jet boats go by, push up a big wake.”

The waves push up dirt and vegetation, he said. But Clark, who has ridden the boats before, wasn’t ready to ban them.

“You gotta share,” he said. “We all gotta respect each other, all of us. This just isn’t my river.”

On the trip back downstream, the boats passed the state park and headed for the company’s Discovery Park, about 10 minutes away by boat, across from Lower Table Rock.

The company park, which is a big part of its business, offers paddle boats, stand-up boards, inflatable boats, inner tubes and fishing poles to catch bass off the docks. The lake has climbing and jumping structures that include a large slide into the water.

The Discovery Park currently is not accessible to the general public via vehicle, although vehicle access from Kirtland Road is under discussion. For now, access is by boat.

This year, the company’s 13th, is a partnership with Noah’s River Adventures of Ashland offering a two-day rafting trip with overnight camping at the Discovery Park. Also new this year is a concert stage that has been relocated from a lake dock to an onshore amphitheater-like setting.

About 14,000 people booked tours last year with Rogue Jet Boat Adventures, which operates in an area about 5 miles upstream and downstream of TouVelle. The company has three boats that carry 10 to 25 passengers.

Opposition speaks out

But not everyone is a fan. Opponents have expressed concerns for years about noise, safety, harm to fish and damage to riverside vegetation, although the company stands by its safety record and questions claims of harm.

In 2017, a proposed ban on jet boats upriver of the state park was rejected unanimously by the five-member Oregon State Marine Board. The Rogue FlyFishers Association and a landowner had petitioned the board, claiming that the boats were a safety hazard to rafters, drift boaters and wading anglers, but a board staff report noted “there are no documented accidents or boating citations involving the tour boat at this time.”

Rogue Jet Boat Adventures video-records its trips, providing it with a tool to dispute any claims of bad behavior. Sgt. Shawn Richards, who supervises Jackson County’s marine deputies, said last year that no violations involving company boats were found and no new complaints were made.

State Sen. Jeff Golden of Ashland addressed the Marine Board last month to say that the issue extended beyond riverfront property owners.

“I don’t doubt they’re unhappy,” he told board members. “I would be, if I lost the peace and quiet that drew me there. But that’s not remotely the whole story. The number and diversity of people weighing in with state agencies makes it clear that the concern is much more substantive and broad-based than that.”

Golden suggested that the board visit TouVelle to see for itself. He said later in a telephone interview that he might propose legislation regarding the issue, but that he wanted the public outreach effort currently underway to take place first.

Golden wasn’t specific, but said one solution being proposed is for boats with motors in excess of 15 horsepower to be banned above the bridge at TouVelle. The largest Rogue Jet Boat Adventures boats run at about 575 horsepower.

Anne Batzer, a riverfront property owner who leads an opposition group, Upper Rogue Guardians, spoke to the board after Golden and urged its members to review documentation submitted by jet boat opponents. She lives upstream of TouVelle and proposes a jet boat ban upstream of the park.

“We’ve been studying this issue for years,” Batzer told the board. “We have documentation for our claims, so there’s no need for you to reinvent the wheel. We’ve done the research, so use us to help you.”

The state’s outreach effort involves the marine board, state parks, state lands and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The agencies have employed a consultant, Oregon’s Kitchen Table, to gather public sentiment about use of the river where it flows from the William L. Jess Dam at Lost Creek Lake downriver to the site of the former Gold Ray Dam east of Gold Hill, a distance of about 31 river miles. In that stretch, the river flows past Shady Cove, Dodge Bridge, Rattlesnake Rapids, the Denman Wildlife Area, TouVelle, Discovery Park, Bear Creek and the Gold Ray Dam site, in that order. The river passes by the Table Rocks, too.

“Over the past few years, there has been some conflict about how people are using and enjoying the Upper Rogue,” the Oregon’s Kitchen Table organization stated in an announcement about the outreach effort. “Some of those people believe that increased use of motor boats, especially the businesses using jet boats, make those activities [including fishing, rafting and swimming] difficult or impossible. Some other people believe that everyone can enjoy the river together, including jet boats. The river is also changing over time because of things like lower water and more people wanting to use it at the same time.

“The State of Oregon is considering making changes that some people have suggested related to the Upper Rogue. Before any decisions are made, we would like to know more about how you and others feel about that stretch of river and how you use it.”

An online community meeting hosted by the organization was held Wednesday, with at least three other meetings to follow, including at 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 30, in the gymnasium at Shady Cove Middle School, 37 Schoolhouse Lane in Shady Cove, and 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 4 at TouVelle State Recreation Site, 8517 Table Rock Road. Another is set for 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 17 at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. in Medford. Registration is requested, at tinyurl.com/okt-upperrogue-register. The organization is asking people to fill out a survey, too, at tinyurl.com/okt-upperrogue-survey.

When Oregon State Parks conducted a survey in 2022 about a possible jet boat concession at TouVelle, it received more than 1,600 responses. The agency opted not to pursue a formal concession agreement, even though Rogue Jet Boat Adventures still uses the park to load and unload passengers, just like any other boat operator. Chris Havel, a state parks spokesman, said a concession agreement would have opened the door to the state regulating jet boat operations.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife that year suggested restrictions on when and where the boats can operate. The agency’s Dan Van Dyke stated that spring chinook eggs are in the gravel approximately from Sept. 1 to early April and that wild winter steelhead eggs are in the gravel from late March to mid-June. Ideally, he wrote, the boats would be limited to running from June 15 to Aug. 31, but that they should not run earlier than May 1 or later than Sept. 10.

Van Dyke suggested that tour boat operations be limited to the area between Rattlesnake Rapids and Salmon Rock, which is just downstream of the Discovery Park and near the base of Lower Table Rock.

This time of year, the river is running cold and strong and is hundreds of feet across in places. Later in the summer, flows slow and the channel narrows and shallows. The company has notified the Marine Board it will not operate if flows are below 1,350 cubic feet per second at the Gold Ray Dam site.

During the last operating season, the company advertised three-hour tours leaving three times daily from the state park, launching from the north side of the river, immediately downstream from the Table Rock Road bridge. Those tours go upstream past the state park and the Denman Wildlife Area to Rattlesnake Rapids, about 5 river miles away, where they are blocked before getting to Dodge Bridge and Shady Cove.

The river upstream of the bridge is where the most sensitive spring Chinook spawning habitat is located, according to ODFW. Last year, small fast-moving jet boats belonging to private parties frequented the Shady Cove area and some of them crashed, according to Mayor Jon Ball. Rogue Jet Boat Adventures doesn’t operate near Shady Cove.

On the return trip from Rattlesnake Rapids, company boats motor past the state park before eventually stopping at the Discovery Park, about 3 miles downstream from the state park. The company also makes short runs from the state park to the Discovery Park for weekend concerts and Friday “happier hour” excursions.

Four state agencies, prompted by public concerns about jet boat use on the Rogue River in Jackson County, are conducting public outreach with a consultant, Oregon’s Kitchen Table, to gauge public opinion about use of the river upstream of the former Gold Ray Dam site east of Gold Hill. Three community meetings have been set:

• 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 30, in the gymnasium at Shady Cove Middle School, 37 Schoolhouse Lane in Shady Cove;

• 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 4 at TouVelle State Recreation Site, 8517 Table Rock Road;

• 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 17 at the Medford library, 205 S. Central Ave. in Medford.

Registration is requested, at tinyurl.com/okt-upperrogue-register.

The organizations also are asking Jackson County residents and visitors to the Upper Rogue River area to fill out an online survey, at tinyurl.com/okt-upperrogue-survey.

For more information, contact Oregon’s Kitchen Table at 503-725-5248 or info@oregonskitchentable.org.