The Oregon State Marine Board has banned use of gasoline engines on Waldo Lake for nearly three years, with the exception of small planes on floats.

Fans of the second deepest lake in Oregon, after Crater Lake, are speaking out as the state considers imposing a ban on floatplanes, too, or making their exception permanent.

The Oregon State Aviation Board could decide in late March or early April whether floatplanes may continue to touch down on the lake surface.

The board has scheduled a two-hour public hearing Thursday in Springfield about floatplanes on Waldo Lake.

“We are just trying to find a best balance for all the people who would like to enjoy the lake,” said Mitch Swecker, director of the Oregon Department of Aviation.

The lake, about 40 miles southwest of Bend, is renowned for its clear waters. Opponents say floatplanes pose a risk of fuel or oil spills.

In addition, critics say, planes increase the possibility of invasive species introduction and cause noise pollution.

Supporters say floatplanes don’t drip fuel or oil, are checked regularly for any invasive stowaways and the noise they produce is minimal.

The board has also collected about 1,000 emails and letters on the issue in the past month, many of them form letters either in support or opposition to floatplanes on Waldo Lake.

Floatplanes were originally included in the marine board ban on gasoline motors on Waldo Lake. In April 2012 the marine board reconsidered the ban and kept it in place for boats, but sent the question of floatplanes to the aviation board. Floatplanes are allowed on Waldo Lake while the question is pending.

Last year the Department of Aviation tracked floatplane use on Waldo Lake. Four planes landed there, one of them twice, according to aviation board records. While that pilot reported no one else at the lake during his landings in May and June, pilots who landed in September saw people ashore. One of the pilots reported that about 14 people gathered around a cove he’d pulled into and yelled at him to “Get out of here … Do not pollute our lake,” according to the records. The last pilots to land there encountered “curious, friendly hikers.”

Cliff Gerber, treasurer for the Columbia Seaplane Pilots Association, said he has landed there three times over the past four years, but not last year.

“It’s just a beautiful place,” said Gerber, who lives in West Linn.

The association is arguing for the aviation board to continue to allow floatplanes on Waldo Lake. Floatplanes are simply used as a means to go to and from the lake, Gerber said, like the cars and trucks used by most other visitors at the lake. Noise from floatplanes is limited to takeoff and landing, he said.

“It is all about being serene when you get there,” Gerber said.

But floatplanes shatter serenity, says Doug Heiken, conservation and restoration coordinator for Oregon Wild. The Portland-based conservation group supports a floatplane ban on Waldo Lake.

“We think that the only time that it might be appropriate is in some type of emergency,” Heiken said. “There is really no need to fly in there.”

When a floatplane lands at Waldo Lake, he said, it creates noise that disturbs other people at the lake for recreation, such as hikers and campers.

“When somebody in a floatplanes arrives at Waldo Lake, everyone knows about it,” Heiken said.

As the aviation board considers the fate of floatplanes on Waldo Lake, the motorboat ban could eventually go before the Oregon Court of Appeals. A collection of groups is calling for a reversal of the ban — including the Columbia Seaplane Pilots Association, said Michael Gillette, an attorney representing the nonprofit Waldo For Everyone!

Gillette said the groups are willing to have size and speed restrictions for boat motors but think they should be allowed.

“They feel it is not right to ban them entirely,” he said.

If you go

What: A public hearing conducted by the Oregon State Aviation Board on floatplane operations at Waldo Lake.

When: 6 p.m. Thursday.

Where: Willamalane Center, Springfield.

Learn more: www.oregon.gov/aviation/Pages/index.aspx