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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Making Waves More People And Less Enforcement Diminish Priest Lake Solitude

Rich Landers Outdoors Editor

You have to pity the boaters, campers and property owners at Priest Lake.

Everybody sees the shipwreck coming, but nobody has the guts to say whoa.

The improved east-side road has helped paved way for year-round mansions on a North Idaho mountain retreat once pretty much a fishing hole with summer cabins.

Priest’s first public deep-draft boat launch is planned at Indian Creek. The ramp will make launching easier for anglers after October, when the lake levels drop below most existing ramps.

The ramp also will allow easier access to huge vessels.

Houseboats and party craft are joining the ever-growing crowd on Priest Lake these days while county sheriff marine patrols have nearly been dry-docked by vindictive budget cuts.

Personal watercraft are bringing a new urgency to the call for recreation management. In a few years, these jet-propelled solo craft have all but eliminated the classic peaceful summer evenings on glassy smooth Priest Lake bays.

If you found a placid cove for camping this summer, don’t be smug. An ear-numbing swarm of jet jockeys will find it eventually.

Where there is one today, there will be four tomorrow.

Yet the 20-mile-long lake isn’t getting any bigger.

Most regrettable is the frightening ease with which this festering commotion is oozing up Priest Lake and into Upper Priest Lake.

The lakes are linked by the Thorofare. This snaking three-mile stream is unique to this region, a narrow forest-lined waterway through which boats can easily pass.

The Thorofare links two separate worlds.

The main lake is largely open to development. The shoreline at the much smaller Upper Priest is protected in a mostly natural state by federal law.

Priest is surrounded by roads and highways. Upper Priest is accessible only by boat or foot.

The upper lake has always been a place to get away from it all.

That’s changing.

So many people are trying to get away from it all, the upper lake is in danger of becoming just another noisy playground.

The Thorofare is a parade on summer weekends. Power boats surge up through flotillas of paddlers. Violations of Bonner County’s no-wake rule in the Thorofare are virtually a daily occurrence during summer. The 1967 ban on water-skiing and tubing at the upper lake also is frequently ignored.

That’s just the beginning.

“If they’d just ban those wretched buzzing jet things from the upper lake, it wouldn’t be so bad,” said Bettylou Wright, a retiree who’s been visiting the Priest Lake area every year since 1955.

“We’re glad to have had our years on the lake before all this evolved.”

Bettylou and her husband, Vern, volunteer each summer to help the Forest Service keep the upper lake clean and somewhat orderly.

“About 96 percent of the boaters that go up there respect the place,” Vern said. “But that other four percent can take away what others are trying to find.”

Said Bettylou, “We were up there the other day, doing chores, and here comes four of those Jet Ski things buzz-bombing us in the bay. They have 20 miles of lake down below. They don’t need to be up there.”

“This year, we really noticed the increase in use at Upper Priest,” said Vern, who patrols the lake twice a week. “They’re charging to camp on the islands at the main lake and all the camping areas are full. This year, all the campsites were full at the upper lake, too. From Friday through Sunday, forget it.”

A sign at the entrance to the Thorofare details the basic rules for recreation at Upper Priest, but the note that personal watercraft are prohibited is technically wrong.

“Any watercraft can go up there as long as it doesn’t make a wake,” said Sgt. Larry Schultz of the Bonner County Sheriff’s Department. “The older personal watercraft couldn’t do that, but the newer larger ones can.”

Schultz said more restrictions on motorized craft heading to the upper lake would make his work easier.

“But that’s not likely,” he said. “The current county commission doesn’t even want us doing boat safety checks or search and rescues.”

The commissioners have proposed cutting the Bonner County marine patrol budget in a way that would slash on-water hours from 1,500 to 900 a season.

“One of the commissioners doesn’t want us out there harassing the public,” Schultz said.

Even though complaints about the increase in noise and usage at Upper Priest are rampant, the message isn’t getting to the Bonner County Commission.

“I thought all power boats were prohibited from going to Upper Priest,” said Dale Van Stone, commissioner from Hope. “Jet boats are becoming a nuisance on Lake Pend Oreille. I imagine they’d be a real pain at a place like Upper Priest. I’m sure somewhere along the line we’re going to have to draft an ordinance to deal with it.”

Commissioner Larry Allen of Blanchard said he hasn’t heard any complaints about noise and congestion at Upper Priest, even though efforts to restrict power boats at the upper lake go back at least 30 years.

Forest Service officials, who have a closer presence to the lake than county commissioners, are more aware of the issues.

“Some people are starting to realize that we can’t let recreation explode or the nature of this place will be ruined for everyone,” said Debbie Wilkins, the agency’s Priest Lake District recreation specialist.

Wilkins will be one of several members of an interagency committee authorized by the Idaho Legislature to begin planning for future recreation at Priest Lake. The first organizational meeting is set for Tuesday, Stone said.

“The Forest Service is in a weird position because we manage the land but have no jurisdiction over the water,” Wilkins said.

The no-wake zone in the Thorofare was established in 1967 after the Forest Service convinced the county that waves speed up erosion of the shoreline, causing trees to topple into the waterway.

“Since then, there’s been no formal exercise to determine what should or should not be allowed at Upper Priest,” Wilkins said.

“Getting together with all the local, state and federal agencies involved is a giant step toward an overall plan. The big problem here has always been that no one entity is in charge. We have to work together.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 color)