PAUL LAKE — Lounging on his floating deck, Ed Lund can look across the placid water to the distant Paul Lake Provincial Park where users carry down canoes and kayaks across the beach to the shoreline.
Beside him, and tied to his dock, are three boats — a pontoon boat, a ski boat and a cartopper. Along the waterfront, fellow owners on the west end of the lake have all types of craft, ranging from a cabin cruiser and sailboat to wakeboats and ski boats.
Due to a longstanding provincial policy, Lund and other Paul Lake residents have the lake as a personal playground.
And, the use is close to exclusive because, other than those paddle craft, no one is able to practically launch a boat from public property on the picturesque lake just 30 minutes northeast of the Tournament Capital.
Len Piggin is out to change all that.
The president of the Kamloops Fly Fishers Association has completed freedom of information requests to understand why boaters are largely excluded from the lake unless they have waterfront property or can pack a boat down the beach or a ramp that has been altered to prevent access to trailers.
More than two decades ago, “20 people converged on the ministry,” Piggin said.
“They said there was near-misses and erosion issues and they didn’t want any more powerboats on the lake — except their own,” he said.
“It gave them exclusive use.”
Piggin, a former City of Kamloops risk manager who now works part-time at an outdoor store in his semi-retirement, said at first he couldn’t believe that one meeting of 20 people could shut down a public ramp.
So, he filed a second freedom of information request to ensure he didn’t miss anything.
There were no incident reports of collisions or near-misses.
“There was only one complaint,” he said.
That complaint resulted in the boat launch at Paul Lake Provincial Park being modified more than two decades ago so boats could no longer be launched from a trailer.
But, Piggin and other anglers say, the policy is unfair to other taxpayers and visitors.
Don Trethewey, a director with the Kamloops Fish & Game Association, just spent thousands of dollars on an automatic boat-loader for his pickup.
But, it’s useless at the park’s boat launch because he can’t get it close enough to the water.
Now in his 70s, Trethewey said he is not physically strong enough to drag or carry his aluminum boat to the water at Paul Lake.
“I can’t do that anymore,” he said.
The Ministry of Environment declined to make staff available for an interview with KTW.
Instead, a representative sent an unattributed note saying large boats can “create conflicts.”
“A trailer-accessible boat launch is not offered at Paul Lake Park, but there are many other lakes and provincial parks in the Kamloops area providing this opportunity,” the note said.
The ministry is looking at options short of opening up the launch.
But, Piggin and other anglers say, that response is not good enough.
“Open it up,” he said, noting he is asked regularly at Wholesale Sports, where he works, why boats can’t be launched from a trailer on Paul Lake.
“Right now, there’s no one out here,” he said on a sunny day in mid-September, when the only boaters on the lake were in two kayaks.
“It’s a shame. There should be six to 12 boats out here on a day like this — it’s gorgeous.”
Jim Knowles, a city marine enthusiast and author of a book on wooden heritage boats, said the province can opt for speed or horsepower restrictions if opening the launch creates hazards.
Such restrictions are in place at Big Bar Lake, Heffley Lake, Lac Le Jeune and Little Lac Des Roches lakes.
“I’d love access to it,” he said.
“If they get problems, they can apply for speed restrictions.”
But, any speed limits or other restrictions would place a crimp on boating the 6.5-kilometre lake for residents at both ends.
Lund said residents set up a Facebook page where they can discuss community affairs, including policing boaters going too fast or creating erosion by planing in the wrong spots.
Knowles added he has sympathy for the anglers and doesn’t mind car-top boats getting better access. But, he’s worried about an onslaught of boaters.
“If they open up the boat launch, it will turn it into Cultus Lake,” he said of the busy recreational lake in the Fraser Valley.
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