Any possible speed limits on the lower portion of the St. Croix River wouldn't be implemented until 2005, but a solicitation this fall for public input on the proposed limits and other rules has some boaters organizing in opposition.

Stillwater resident Bruce Ehlers formed the Minnesota Power Boaters Association and started a Web site earlier this fall to protest the restrictions, which would limit boaters to 40 mph during the day and 20 mph at night between Stillwater and Prescott, Wis. The group has about 200 members, Ehlers said.

"Additional restrictions on the river are unnecessary," said Ehlers, who cruises the St. Croix in his 41-foot Chris Craft. "The upper 125 miles of this (150-mile) river is already closed to most motorboat traffic. Everybody has a right to enjoy the river. It's wide enough, deep enough, and the river needs to be shared by everybody. It isn't mine, it isn't yours."

The Lower St. Croix River Management Commission — the group that manages the lower portion of the river — is reviewing the proposed speed limits and other water and land-use regulations along the river, originally proposed several years ago. The commission consists of officials from the Minnesota and Wisconsin departments of natural resources and the National Park Service.

"A fair amount of time has passed, and it just seems prudent that we go back and revisit it and make sure we are all on the same page," said Steve Johnson, river management supervisor for the Minnesota DNR.

A new advisory group, the Lower St. Croix Partnership Team, consisting of 35 local governments and 14 interest groups, has been meeting this fall to gauge public opinion on the proposed speed limits and other rules.

The rules must still go through a lengthy process, including extensive public hearings and comment, Johnson said.

In addition to the 40- and 20-mph limits on the lower part of the river, plans call for a 20-mph speed limit between Stillwater and the Arcola sandbar, about three miles north of Stillwater, and a 15-mph limit between the sandbar and Taylors Falls.

There is currently no speed limit on the St. Croix, except in no-wake zones, including areas 100 feet from shore and at narrow spots along the river.

Safety concerns were considered in the decision to impose speed limits, as were aesthetics, Johnson said.

"We're seeing more and more boats going really fast on the St. Croix," Johnson said. "We'd just as soon we never got a big body count."

The 40- and 20-mph limits were picked because these are the same limits imposed on Lake Minnetonka, Johnson said. "At 40 mph, there isn't anything you can't do on the water except go really fast," he said.

But boaters such as Ehlers say the limits would hurt fishermen who "buy large motors for their boats so they can go fast to the next fishing spot."

"Already, this stretch of river is highly regulated, with five no-wake zones from Stillwater south," he said. "The entire 25-mile stretch is a no-wake zone about eight months of the year."

Data show few accidents on the river are caused by excessive speed, according to records from the Minnesota DNR. However, the speed-limit discussions heated up after a fatal Fourth of July accident in 1999. Officials determined that high speeds and alcohol contributed to the accident that killed five men.

The Washington County sheriff's office opposes the speed limits between Stillwater and Prescott. The National Park Service, the two state departments of natural resources and the St. Croix County, Wis., Sheriff's Department also patrol the river, but the Washington County sheriff's office has the largest, most visible enforcement presence.

"Once you have speed limits, you have some expectation of enforcement," said Washington County Sheriff Jim Frank. "They would be virtually impossible to enforce, but yet the expectation is that we are going to do it."

Jack Swanson, a boater who lives along the river in Prescott, Wis., compares the St. Croix to an "interstate highway" with room for multiple lanes in each direction. "Why would non-boaters want to subject boaters with speed rules akin to that of busy city streets?" he asked.

"If ever a waterway held the potential to be a natural and safe waterway where faster boats could utilize the speed designed into their boats, the St. Croix is it."

Bob Harvey, mayor of Lakeland Shores and past commander of the St. Paul Sail and Power Squadron, an organization that teaches safe boating classes, also opposes the speed limits. He said big boats won't plane at 20 mph and will "end up pushing more water and creating a much larger wake" than they would if they were able to go faster.

Others say the restrictions are needed. Larry Kennedy, immediate past president of St. Croix River Association, the oldest landowner association on the St. Croix, said speed limits have been imposed on other major metro-area bodies of water, including Lake Minnetonka, White Bear Lake and Prior Lake.

"If we don't impose those speed limits, the fear is that boaters will trailer in and turn it into the St. Croix Speedway, and we don't want that," said Kennedy, who lives on the Minnesota side of the river in May Township.

The St. Croix River Association is opposed to the faster speed limit of 15 mph for the zone from the Arcola sandbar north to Taylors Falls. The current zone — "slow, no wake" — is about 8 mph.

Al Taylor, who lives on the Wisconsin side of the river seven miles south of Hudson, said fast boaters create large waves and are "incredibly noisy."

"The boats are much bigger now, and that means the wake is much bigger," Taylor said. "When I first started, they did not have the cigarette boats — the high-speed boats. They have lots of them here now."

"Somewhere between the birch bark canoes and the cigarette boats there lives a happy medium," adds Juergen Weidling, who lives in the town of Troy, Wis., six miles south of Hudson. "The river was set aside for people to enjoy — not just for boating. You don't have car races in national parks. If you want to go fast, go somewhere else."

Ehlers said he and other boaters shouldn't have to go elsewhere. "I believe that a small vocal minority is creating new rules and regulations for an apathetic silent majority," he said.