HARRISBURG -- A Christian camp booted off the Youghiogheny River now is making waves in Commonwealth Court.

The Boswell-based camp, Summer's Best Two Weeks, argued in Commonwealth Court yesterday that the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is improperly preventing it from conducting rafting trips by requiring it to use commercial outfitters.

The camp had been conducting trips down the river for 30 years, but six years ago the state began enforcing a rule requiring commercial users to travel downstream using one of the four licensed outfitters. The camp is nonprofit but is considered a commercial business because it pays its counselors, the state agency told a three-panel judge yesterday.

"If you are putting yourself in the hands of someone proposing to act as a river guide, we want you to be in good hands," said Michael Harvey, of the state attorney general's office, who is representing DCNR. The agency regulates the commercial outfitters, inspects their equipment and ensures they carry insurance. As a fee, the agency receives 7.5 percent of gross receipts for the rafting trips, which cost $42 and up per person.

"We have complete control over the four outfitters ... and we get a piece of the action," Mr. Harvey said.

Individuals and non-commercial groups do not have to use the outfitters. If they provide their own rafts, they need only pay a $3 fee for a state permit to access the river.

Camp leaders suggest DCNR officials are protecting profits of commercial outfitters instead of providing appropriate public access to the river, which runs through Ohiopyle State Park.

"They want to keep the commercial outfitters happy, and the commercial outfitters don't want the camp on the river ... even though it has insurance and a perfect safety record," said attorney Jeff Rowe, of the Institute for Justice, which is representing the camp. "The DCNR needlessly ended a Pennsylvania tradition that has taught courage, teamwork, leadership, faith and good citizenship."

About 2,600 children attend the camp each year. About 1,000 of them, who are older than 12, traditionally participated in rafting trips.

Camp leaders say it is more than a financial issue. They would not send their group rafting with commercial outfitters at any price, they said.

"Camp families are entrusting us with their children because they know the experience we provide, and we don't want to pass that off to someone else," said camp director Kent Biery.

"Our purpose is to provide education, adventure, challenge and development of character, whereas a commercial outfitter just puts them on rafts like cattle cars and sends them down the river as fast as they can. We take them to experience all the river has to offer," he said.

Judge Bernard L. McGinley presided over the three-judge panel, which also included judges Mary Hannah Leavitt and Dan Pelligrini. Mr. McGinley's office refused to say when a decision might be issued.