WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two years after the National Park Service was required by a court settlement to begin prohibiting personal watercraft, two more National Recreation Areas have reopened their boat ramps to PWC in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Amistad National Recreation Area and Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, both in Texas, announced today that personal watercraft use will again be allowed, effective immediately. "We're glad PWCs are allowed back on the reservoir," said Amistad NRA superintendent Alan Cox. Three National Park Service units already welcome personal watercraft, nine units are in the final stages of the rulemaking process to reallow the vessels, and scientific analyses on the effects of personal watercraft are currently underway at two National Seashores.

"We were confident that science would once again rule over bias, and confirm that PWC have no unique impact that justifies singling them out for discriminatory bans," said Jeff Ludwig, Regulatory Affairs Manager at the Personal Watercraft Industry Association. "These two re-openings continue a trend of National Park Service findings that there is a place for PWC in units of the National Park system that allow other forms of motorized boating. I applaud the National Park Service for completing this process in time to allow the public to use their PWC at Amistad and Lake Meredith for the 2004 boating season, and encourage the NPS to work as expediently as possible to finish the rulemaking process in other units currently considering allowing resumed PWC use," continued Ludwig.

Often referred to by their trade names—JET SKI, WaveRunner, Sea-Doo, Polaris, and AquaTrax, personal watercraft were banned from most National Recreation Areas, Lakeshores and Seashores in 2002 as a result of a 2000 lawsuit between an anti-boating group and the National Park Service. Each unit that seeks to reopen to PWC is required to complete a comprehensive scientific study of PWC impact on the local environment and economy and prepare a rule allowing continued PWC use. Amistad and Lake Meredith have both completed this process and have determined that PWC have no unique impact on their waterways.

"In fact, in every instance where a scientific assessment has measured the impact of PWC on a public body of water where motorized boating is permitted, modern PWC have been found to be appropriately included in multiple-use waterways management plans," said Ludwig.