In a recent press release covered by the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Protect the Adirondacks has called for a flotilla of canoes to attend a protest calling for banning motorboats from Weller Pond and Little Weller Pond. Weller Pond is at the far end of the Saranac chain of lakes, beginning with Lake Flower and continuing up through Lower and Middle Saranac Lakes. Weller Pond has historically been a destination not only for canoeists but for fishermen, campers, hunters and water skiers. It is reached through a narrow, shallow channel and is a beautiful body of water, approximately a mile long by a half-mile wide. Several islands and bays add to the scenic appeal. On busy weekends, local boaters often use Weller Pond as an escape from the crowded waterways and beaches of Middle Saranac Lake.

Weller Pond may be best known as the summer camp of author Martha Reben, a young lady who came to the pond, via motorboat, in search of relief from tuberculosis back in 1931. Reben’s experiences are chronicled in her books, the most famous of which is “The Healing Woods.” Today, a plaque marks Reben’s camp spot and draws visitors who desire to retrace her well-described route to this secluded spot. If Protect the Adirondacks is successful in barring motorboats from the pond, it will, for all intents and purposes, prohibit the infirmed, the elderly and the handicapped travelers from ever visiting the Healing Woods of Weller Pond again.

Located in close proximity to Weller Pond is the St. Regis Canoe Area, a 19,000-acre motorless-boat-only area. The largest motor-free area in the northeastern United States, the canoe area contains 58 ponds and lakes, and several rivers. Throughout the Adirondacks, there are many other ponds and rivers that are accessible only to canoes and other small non-motorized crafts. Canoes and other small human-powered vessels share the Saranac system with motorboats. It would take most paddlers several lifetimes to explore all of the motor-free waterways in the Adirondack Park.

One of the unique features of the Saranac lakes and river system is that it can be enjoyed by everyone. I’m sympathetic to canoeists who have been swamped or otherwise wrongly treated by the few motorboat operators who give the rest of us a bad name. I’ve experienced it myself while canoeing and fishing. I’ve also experienced having the boating channel tied up by careless or selfish canoeists who fail to give way to large crafts and sometimes create their own dangerous situations.

Weller Pond is not a good candidate to have motorboats banned. Besides the aforementioned traditional and historic uses of the pond, if motorboats were banned from it, enforcing those regulations would be utterly impractical. Either an EnCon officer or forest ranger would have a full-time, rain-or-shine, seven-day-a-week job, or some other means of surveillance would need to be employed. How then would this new regulation be enforced? Drones, maybe? Satellites? Either seem incompatible with the wilderness experience paddlers would be coming to the lake for. The cost of stationing a law enforcement representative way out on the pond would be ridiculous.

But more than that, the call for banning motorboats defies the sense of fairness. Why should one group of users deny a resource to another group of users? If there were other places for to enjoy canoeing in total quiet, there might be some merit to the plan. All pay taxes that support our common state land. In fact, motorboat operators pay significant fees that non-motorized operators do not, via registrations. Motorboat operators pay annual registration fees, not only on their boats but on the trailers that carry them. They pay taxes on the fuel they burn in them. Canoeists pay nothing for their use of our common waterways.

The idea of banning motorboats on Weller Pond is not new. Over a decade ago, Dick Beamish was pushing the idea in his magazine, the Adirondack Explorer. It was a bad idea then and remains a bad idea now. It would be a regulation with no merit, favoring one group of users over another. Those who want to force this change are like a dog with a bone who’s not content to enjoy his own bone but wants other dogs’ bones, too.

Protect the Adirondacks has called for the flotilla of protest on Saturday, Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. Friends of Weller Pond will counter with a peaceful flotilla of motorboats and other craft, and attempt to question the protesters as to why they don’t believe the pond should be shared by all users. If you value motorboat access to Weller Pond, please to take time to join us. We often assume our rights will remain without standing up for them, only to be surprised when they are gone.

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Keith Gorgas lives in Saranac Lake.