The boat ramp at the Sunriver Resort Marina will be off limits to the public starting Friday evening, and staff with the resort will instead be directing floaters and paddlers to public boat launches this holiday weekend and beyond.

Environmental damage at the site, liability concerns, intoxicated boaters and people crowding the parking lot all led to the decision, said Rob Macgowan, the director of recreation with Sunriver Resort.

Members of the Sunriver Homeowners Association will still be able to use the river access site with a homeowner identification card, he said.

But most of the people launching boats and other watercraft don’t live in Sunriver and aren’t paying customers at the marina, Macgowan said.

“We’re having a lot of people floating the river, and they park their car in our facility,” he said. “So how much space are we losing for our business?”

Tom Hamilton with the marina said that on any given day, about half of the parking lot spots are taken by people not using the marina facilities, which include rentals and a restaurant.

Foot traffic around the boat launch has also trampled and destroyed the nearby riverbank, he said, so the closure to the public is also a test to see if fewer people at the site can allow it to bounce back, he said.

And there seems to be more people using the Sunriver Resort Marina launch since alcohol was prohibited on the Deschutes River through Bend, he said.

“That’s when we really noticed the surge in activity,” Macgowan said. There were “a lot more funky flotation devices, a lot of weird stuff like (air) mattresses, kiddie pools and jumping apparatuses, and lots and lots of alcohol.”

Sunriver Resort promotes a family-friendly river experience, he said, and that doesn’t mesh with people who have spent a day drinking on the river getting out at the marina.

“We’re trying to give our guests a quality experience,” he said.

People can still rent watercraft at the marina and use the resort’s dock, he said, adding that the dock system doesn’t impact the riverbank.

And those who want to use their own inner tubes, kayaks, rafts and other boats can use public launches at other sites along the Upper Deschutes.

“It’s not like the river has now been restricted to public use, that isn’t the case at all,” Macgowan said. “It’s just a private landowner trying to do the right thing.”

People can launch at the Big River Campground, Harper’s Bridge, Besson Boat Launch, the Benham Falls day use area and La Pine State Park, he noted.

Sunriver Resort staffers will be at the parking lot this weekend, he said, checking vehicles with watercraft to see if people have homeowner identification cards and handing out maps of the alternate sites to those without them.

Macgowan said he’s already received complaints from people saying the change is unfair but added that some callers don’t realize there are other nearby options.

The marina is getting too much use, said Geoff Frank, the owner of Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe in Bend, and the closure could cause confusion at first.

“People are so accustomed to using that, I think they’re going to have a little bit of an issue until they educate people and get the word out,” Frank said. “However, it is a private site.”

Employees at his store usually recommend other places to kayak or float, he said, adding that the stretch of the Deschutes River by the marina gets crowded.

“There’s 40 other miles of flat-water sections of the river,” he said.