Motorboats

For areas that were designated as wilderness by the 1964 Wilderness Act, section 4(d)(1) of that Act gives the Secretary of Agriculture discretion to allow the public use of aircraft and motorboats where such uses were already established, subject to such restrictions as the Secretary deems desirable. Most subsequent wilderness bills designating new wilderness areas incorporate this and other provisions of the 1964 Wilderness Act, and extend this same discretionary authority to the Secretary of Interior as well.

This Secretarial discretion has allowed luxury cruise ships to continue motoring through the Glacier Bay Wilderness in Alaska. In other cases, rather than invoking Secretarial discretion, several wildlife refuge wildernesses along the eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico allow the public to use motorboats and high-decibel airboats in wilderness, based on the argument that the state controls navigable surface water, not the federal agencies. The presence of navigable water in law means that the public has legal rights of access on the water, including the right to anchor, the right to boat, right to fish, portage, and the right to walk on shore below the mean high water mark. However, a right to public access in no way implies that access and navigation methods cannot be regulated to protect clear and compelling federal interests including the federal agencies’ obligation to preserve wilderness character. In other words, non-motorized boat access can be required in wilderness.

For those wildernesses located along coastal shorelines, it is important to know that the federal government and the state share “concurrent authority” over coastal waters, with each having respective authority over certain purposes according to agreements made with individual states. Wilderness managers should identify those specific purposes that the federal government has clear authority over regarding coastal waters adjoining several wildernesses along the eastern seaboard and Gulf states. This is important information because motorized activities on coastal waters can impact wildlife, migratory birds, sense of solitude, and other aspects of wilderness character.

Several wilderness bills passed by Congress specifically allow public use of motorboats in some wildernesses, in most cases with certain restrictions. These locations include the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the Wild Salmon River within the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, Okefenokee Wilderness, and the Alexander Springs Wilderness in Florida. In some cases, such as the Boundary Waters, use levels are capped by law, but in other areas such as the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness there is no statutory restriction on amount of jetboat use. Although the Forest Service does have authority to administratively regulate this use, it has not taken steps to do so.