The Steamboat Springs Parks and Recreation Commission wants to have a larger conversation about outfitters on the Yampa River, potentially including other businesses being allowed to rent tubes on the river.

The request comes after the commission broached the topic in its January meeting, where some local business owners expressed a desire to be able to work on the river. Currently, there are limits on how many operators can offer tubing.

“I would like to do a work session on that because it seems like a robust (conversation),” said Calder Young, commission chair, earlier this month.

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The commission is set to consider permits for commercial river operators at its next meeting in March, and Young initially expressed a desire to have a work session before that. Still, other members of the commission said they didn’t feel there was enough time to make changes ahead of this summer.

The commission discussed the topic for more than an hour last month, but didn’t reach a consensus about what, if anything, it wanted to do. The meeting featured public comments from several outfitters; both those who are renting tubes on the river now and those who are not permitted to do so. At that meeting, Young expressed a desire to get feedback from the broader community as well.

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Three outfitters are permitted to rent tubes on the river and each has a different allotment of tubes they can rent. The city’s Parks, Open Space and Trails Manager Craig Robinson said in January the total allotment of tubes has never been reached over the course of a season.

Instead, about half of the 49,000 tubes allowed over a three-month period in the summer actually float down the river in Steamboat.

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Peter Van De Carr, who owns Backdoor Sports on Yampa Street and is allotted more tubes than any other outfitter, told the commission that he has spent a lot of money over the years to obtain that larger allotment, and it would be unfair for the commission to simply open the river up to more outfitters.

“I am vehemently opposed to any more river outfitters,” Van De Carr said in January. “If somebody wants to get into the business they can purchase just like we did.”

But Danny Tebbenkamp, who owns Paddleboard Adventure Company in Steamboat, said he would like to be able to rent tubes on the Yampa rather than having to sell them to customers as he does now. He also said more outfitters could help better monitor the river.

“I think having more companies, more outfitters involved gives a bigger presence, gives more voices, gives a little more ownership as outfitters to care for the river,” Tebbenkamp said.  “I do believe that commercial outfitters are going to educate, where Walmart is not going to educate the person getting a tube there what they should do or not do.”

Peter Hall, who owns Hala Gearspace on Yampa Street and doesn’t have any tubing allotments either, said a problem he has is that people come in to his shop wanting to tube and his only option is to sell them one — many of which he guessed end up in the trash when visitors leave the Yampa Valley.

The city has tried to encourage tubers to use commercial outfitters, because they are able to explain regulations such as the disposable container ban prior to visitors getting on the river. Robinson said the biggest impact on river health from tubing is trash in the river, and tubers that go on their own are seen as larger contributors than commercial outfitters.

The commission indicated a desire to further explore how it would add outfitters, and Parks and Recreation Director Angela Cosby said staff have been studying how the town of Missoula, Montana deals with the issue to potentially inform next steps. Examples from other towns are hard to come by though, as Steamboat is largely seen as a leader for other communities on the issue.

Cosby recommended the commission not rush into significant policy changes ahead of this summer season and perhaps do a larger review of river policies later in the summer.

“We definitely don’t want to rush it,” Young said. “I like having a work session on that. I don’t feel like we need to rush to have it done.”

To reach Dylan Anderson, call 970-871-4247 or email danderson@SteamboatPilot.com.