Neighbors on Echo Lake are at odds, to say the least, over proposed boating regulations aimed at curbing shoreline erosion and other property damage.

About 200 people turned out for a hearing in Kalispell on Tuesday.

Most who spoke were adamantly opposed to the regulations, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Regional Supervisor Jim Satterfield said.

But backers of a petition that prompted the regulation proposals say their numbers weren’t accurately represented at the heated meeting.

“There’s a significant number of people who are for the changes who didn’t speak at the meeting either because they weren’t there or they were intimidated,” said Tara Hoveland, an attorney who has lived on the lake for 10 years.

“The opponents were definitely there en masse,” Satterfield said.

At issue is a proposal to make Echo Lake and connected Abbott and Peterson lakes no-wake zones for boats when water levels rise to 5 feet below a survey pin on the Causeway Road at the north end of the lake.

Another proposal would make Causeway Bay a no-wake zone at all times. A third regulation would ban the use of wake-enhancing equipment on boats used for wake boarding or surfing.

The driver behind the proposals has been the unusually high water on the lakes for the last two years.

Proponents say they have witnessed obvious and significant erosion and property damage. They contend that when a temporary no-wake rule was imposed in 2011, the damage was less compared to last year, when a similar rule was not adopted.

Hoveland said the difference was apparent on the peninsula on which she lives, which is accessed by a single-lane road.

“The damage to that road in 2012 was significantly more than in 2011 when there was no wake,” she said. “Part of the road was covered in water both years.”

Opponents maintain that Echo Lake, with its warm and calm water, has been a water-skiing destination for years and they are concerned that that the regulations, as written, threaten that tradition.

They were particularly alarmed about new information provided by Fish, Wildlife and Parks at the meeting.

The agency tracked water elevation data for 16 random years since 1970 and said that a no-wake rule would have been imposed 13 of those years under the proposed regulation’s definition of flood stage — if the water reached 5 feet below the Causeway survey pin.

“So they are really talking about closing Echo the majority of the time,” said Heather Bruner, whose family has lived on the lake since 1964.

Hoveland said she thinks that may not be the case, largely because of the number of years since 1970 where there is no lake level data.

“I suspect they only have years when there is high water, because those are the only years they had a reason to go out and measure it,” she said.

But even Hoveland and other regulation proponents are gravitating toward the idea that the flood stage defined in the regulation is indeed too low.

“What’s considered flood stage can be modified,” she said. “I think they need to play with that and figure out a reasonable place where [flood stage] should be.”

“I don’t think it should be where it’s set right now,” said Echo Lake resident Andy Malone. “My understanding about where that high water is set, it might be too low. I’m for common-sense regulations and protection of property from erosion problems.”

Bruner questions the need for a year-round no-wake rule for Causeway Bay, pointing out that there was an Echo Lake Marina on that used to sponsor water-skiing events and supported busy boat traffic in the bay. “It was like, the place,” she said of the marina, which closed in the early 1990s.

Bruner also notes that the state has no-wake rules for all lakes under 35 surface acres, and Causeway Bay is around 90 acres.

Bruner objects to the proposed ban on equipment that allows boats to increase their ballast to produce large wakes for wake boarding.

“That’s silly,” Bruner said. “Those boats are used all over the United States.”

But they are relatively new and they do cause problems on Echo Lake, Hoveland said.

“The waves are so big your dock is getting pounded continuously to the point where the boats are getting loosened from their moorings,” she said, adding that the waves are disruptive to people on canoes, paddle boards and other small watercraft.

“In my mind, Echo Lake may just be too small” for those kinds of boats, she said.

Collectively, the regulations as written would dramatically change the nature of a lake community that has been built around water recreation, according to opponents.

“Echo Lake is one of the warmer lakes in the Flathead Valley, and it has a huge summer population of families who enjoy water skiing and wake boarding,” said Duncan Scott, an attorney who has been hired by a property owner. “This proposal would shut down what families have been doing for generations out there.”

“If they close Echo Lake to boating, property values are going to tank,” Bruner said.

For property owner Troy Bond, the proposed regulations already are having a financial impact. Bond said he bought a lot on the lake two years ago and has since installed utilities and leveled the site to build a home.

“The plan was to start construction in the spring, but now all that is on hold due to this uncertainty,” he said. “We only purchased waterfront property to be able to boat on the lake ... all three proposals would affect a person’s ability to enjoy boating on Echo Lake.”

The currently defined flood stage level “is so low it would shut boating down for many years to come,” Bond said.

Some regulation supporters say the new rules would curb erosion and protect shoreline properties.

“These are actually measures that would protect property and  protect property values or enhance them,” said Eugene Hutz, a Causeway Bay resident who had significant damage to his property last year.

“We had tons of the bank in front of our house chomped away” by high-water waves, requiring emergency measures to shore up the bank, Hutz said. “It was substantial, and it was scary.”

Comments received in writing and at the hearing will be processed into a report with a recommendation to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission in the months to come, Satterfield said.

He said the proposed regulations could be approved, rejected or modified.

There were complaints about the timing of the proposals and the hearing, with people pointing out that many Echo Lake property owners are seasonal residents who aren’t around at this time of year.

But Satterfield said the number of written responses received and the strong turnout at the hearing indicate people are tuned in to a process that is far from over.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.