Governor Paterson has asked me to respond to your letter regarding the Great Lakes Recreational Boating Study.

I commend you for your exuberance in promoting recreational boating and its inherent value to the economy and social values of our nation’s Great Lakes region, and I appreciate your desire for accurate information. Effective public education and political advocacy should certainly be based on the most current and accurate information possible. It is unfortunate the Study’s report did not meet your expectations.

In this time of staggering budget deficits, economic uncertainties and resource constraints, we need to collectively exert our energies in looking forward and creating a new and bolder vision for the Great Lakes region—one in which recreational boating serves an increasingly important role. I believe, rather than looking back to criticize elements of a single report, as you have suggested, we should focus on how to continue moving forward, using the essence of this study as one of a growing number of resources needed to mold public opinion and future political action.

I encourage you to share your ideas with the Great Lakes Commission on how the recreational boating community, Great Lakes states and our federal government can work together to pursue a future vision for recreational and economic opportunity while protecting the unique natural resources of the Great Lakes Basin.

Donald Zelazny
Great Lakes Programs Coordinator

EDITOR’S NOTE:
Former Great Lakes Commission member F. Ned Dikmen, recipient of this letter, asked the director of the Commission to redirect the $363,000 of overhead it retained from the original $443,000 it was granted from the Corps of Engineers and use it for a new Great Lakes recreational boating study. The request has been ignored. A study to measure the economic impact of recreational boating on the Great Lakes is desperately needed to guide coastal municipalities that embrace recreational boating in their harbors.