Education key factor in lake patrol

For the past 15 years, Greg Donaldson has been doing what he loves — working outdoors and spending the day on the water fives days a week.

Donaldson, a marine patrol officer who drives around in a 2005 Design Concepts Patrol Boat, is responsible for making patrol runs and checking on boaters and visitors at Success Lake.
“I love it. It’s a great job. I get to work outdoors. Some people go to work and sit behind a desk. I come here and this lake is my office,” Donaldson said.

Lake Patrol falls under Tulare County Parks and Recreation, Donaldson said. His boat is one of three new ones obtained from the state through a grant, a process they can do every seven years, with a new one scheduled for 2012.

Among his duties is counting the number of boats twice a day, every morning and every afternoon, and reporting the number to the state, boat inspections, checking registrations and boat capacities, and that boaters operate safely. The blue lights and sirens are only used during emergencies. He also enforces the swimming areas on the lake, making sure people stay out of prohibited areas.

“The majority of the people swim along the shoreline we call Tule Point — the area where the North Fork Tule River and the South Fork Tule River meet,” Donaldson said. “The shoreline beach is a good place for folks to gather and barbecue. We have ‘No Wake’ markers there for that reason.”
The “No Wake” zones are areas where boats need to drive slow and not make wakes — such as the Tule Point area and a segment of water leading to and extended into South Fork.

“No matter what, boats cannot speed through here. They can’t create [water] foam,” he said. “That’s why houseboats come out here. It’s peaceful.”

As he patrols the area, Donaldson said he is frequently stopped by waving motorists who need a tow or have run out of gasoline.

On slow boat days, it takes about 15 to 30 minutes — driving an equivalent of 15 to 20 miles per hour — to make the rounds along the current 20 miles of shoreline at Success Lake — and, an approximate hour to two, to make the rounds on busy days, especially on brisk days, such as the recent Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends.

“We’re safety-oriented. Our primary goals are safety, education and enforcement. We regulate all areas and strictly enforce the ‘Keep out’ zones.”

But when it comes to boating, education is the key factor, he said, especially since there are so many county, state and federal navigation laws. Especially since so many people are unfamiliar with the laws, particularly right after acquiring a new boat.

“On any given weekend, we have 250 to 300 boats out here. On weekdays, the number is between 100 to 150, including Class A boats and personal watercraft,” Donaldson said. “It’s all for their own safety. This is Porterville’s back yard pool. Mainly, I’m out here making sure people operate safely. If they do something minor wrong, I’ll give them a warning the first time. If I see them do it again, I’ll write them up. We’re the primary law-enforcement agency on the water.”

Though some people are educated, certain situations carry zero tolerance.

“Speed limit out here is [the equivalence of] 5 miles an hour at night. There is zero tolerance for night speeding,” Donaldson said. “There’s no warning for that.”
Boats are allowed on the water sunrise to sunset only, unless they have anchors and lights. But all personal watercraft must be out of the water at dusk.

Though he has no quota of citations to meet, Donaldson said he writes two to three citations a day weekdays, and five to six on weekends. More on holidays and busy weekends.

“The County is the most reasonable. Breaking a federal or state law, gets expensive,” Donaldson said.

Penalty fees for the violations range from $500 to $1,000, with travel-pattern and speeding violations being the most common county-enforced violations. An example of a state violation is bow riding — riding on top of the front of the boat, and a federal violation includes driving a personal watercraft without a life jacket.

“They need to travel in one direction when they’re on the water,” Donaldson said. “As far as bow riding, that’s quite dangerous. If they hit any kind of bump, guess where that person is going to end up? Right in front of the boat.”

But there are all types of dangerous situations not related directly to boating to watch for, he said, and shared a story.

Once, just before the gates to the spillway were to open, Donaldson said he drove to the area — an area clearly marked as “dangerous” and with several “Keep out” posts — to make sure no one was in the water.

What he saw shocked him.

“A family was swimming in the danger zone. The mom was watching from shore while several children were jumping off a platform into the water,” he said.

The platform was situated over the water gate that was scheduled to open in minutes to drain water from the lake through the spillway to the Tule River.

“It was a significant amount of water they were releasing,” Donaldson said. “It would have sucked them right out. They were right in the line of danger. The mom was very upset. She had no idea. They thought it was a diving dock.”

Each day, Donaldson warns every person fishing in the area that they must stay out of the water in that area.

Being safe while having fun is important to prevent tragedies, Donaldson said, and he stressed the importance of life jackets, pointing out the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Success Lake’s life jacket loaner program. With 66 of them, for all ages, infant to adult, the jackets are loaned out on a first-come, first-serve status, daily.

“We work hand in hand with them. They are a partnering agency,” Donaldson said. “If they see something, they call us and we go enforce it. It’s 100-percent partnership agency.”

Southern Area Manager for the Sacramento District Corps of Engineers Calvin Foster said his park rangers — five permanent and two student park rangers — are constantly assisting visitors, providing them with information, providing first aid, and being first responders.They are vigilant while in their patrol vehicles and while patrolling on foot along the shore lines, Foster said.