Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter says motorboat owners who have to register their vessels are being unfairly singled out to bear the state's boat-related costs, and he wants to discuss extending the burden to others, such as kayakers, canoeists, rafters and even windsurfers.

Otter's form response letter to letters sent by concerned non-motorized boaters states "[i]t is my position that all users of waterways should pay their fair share of the costs of maintaining and improving that resource.  I have concerns with the inequity of registration requirements between motorized and non-motorized watercraft...will be meeting with industry representatives to discuss possible changes to Idaho's watercraft registration requirements."

This should be a major cause of concern for kayakers, canoeists and rafters alike - we all know our usage of state facilities to be NONE.  The vast majority of Idaho's whitewater rivers are managed by federal agencies, and few if any state managed rivers offer any amenities. 

This is an unfair tax, impossible to administer, targeting a group of users for something they don't use and already pay for. Non-motorized boat users such as canoeists, kayakers and rafters already pay taxes on the facilities and public lands they use in the form of parking fees along the Payette River that go to the U.S. Forest Service, as well as a $5 per person fee for boaters who float world-famous rapids on the Salmon, Snake and Selway rivers.

Registration of small non-motorized boats is an overwhelmingly unpopular concept in Idaho that has been defeated in the state legislature in the past.  It has also failed in numerous other states in recent years.  Learn more about about boat registration at www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Wiki/do-op/id/stewardship:boater_registration