Priest Lake Getting A Checkup Heavy Use Affecting Quality Of Water

The scientists were having a hard time finding slime in Distillery Bay.

“Boy, these are pretty clean rocks,” said Debra Bouchard as she took the latest offering from Steve Todd, who had to dive several times before finding rocks with any trace of tiny algae.

Their work is part of a three-year, $600,000 study of Priest Lake.

Halfway into it, researchers are confirming what’s apparent to every boater, swimmer and sunset-gazer who’s ever been here.

“This has all the characteristics of being a high-quality lake, no doubt about it,” said Glen Rothrock of the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality.

But there’s trouble in paradise.

There is lots of slime on the rocks down by Kalispell Island, which has only a few outhouses and hundreds of campers over a summer weekend. The steady increase in recreation has the Priest Lake Ranger District considering the need for more restrooms.

Nutrients from human waste can lead to the slime and algae blooms. That’s why aging septic systems used by lakeshore residents are also a worry.

Lakeshore development may also be putting sediment and polluted stormwater runoff into the lake.

“New construction pressure is without a doubt increasing,” said Rothrock. “There’s trucks going this way and that way,”

The researchers are giving the watershed a physical exam, to assess the health of the lake and its tributary streams.

To protect the water and improve it where needed, a management plan is being written for Priest Lake. It will be similar to plans written on other North Idaho lakes.

In fact, the plans for Hayden and Spirit lakes are being used as models by the 12-member planning team.

Priest Lake’s plan will be different in one regard. The others are lists of recommendations that local governments and other agencies can act upon if they choose. This one could become state law.

That’s because some environmental activists decided a few years back that Priest Lake should be designated an “Outstanding Resource Water.” That’s the state’s designation for its highest quality waterways.

The activists haven’t succeeded. The timber industry was nervous that the “outstanding” label would lead to logging restrictions. But everyone agreed more information was needed.

So the Legislature approved spending $500,000 for the watershed study. The federal government contributed another $100,000.

Lawmakers also called for a management plan, which must be approved by the Idaho Board of Health and Welfare. It should be in the board’s hands by October 1995, Rothrock said.

“It will become law if approved by the 1996 session of the Legislature,” said Rothrock.

Work on the management plan began last February. The committee in charge includes members from the U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands, which manage much of the nearby land, are represented. Other members include a Bonner County commissioner, lakeside resident, an environmental activist, marina owner, timber industry representative.

Unfortunately, Rothrock said, there’s no fish expert in the group. “One of the most common comments I hear is disappointment over the fisheries.”

Committee members are looking at other recreation issues, as well as septic pollution, stormwater runoff, livestock management, hazardous materials storage and road building.

The management plan may ultimately lead to more rules for people to follow as they build, work and play around the lake.

But that won’t be enough to protect the water, said Jules Gindreaux, a committee member who lives near the lake.

“We can have all sorts of regulations and laws on the books, but they are no better than the enforcement, penalties and accountability - which is woefully short, and in many cases absent,” he said.

Gindreaux is among citizen volunteers who routinely sample water quality in the lake. Rothrock praised citizen support of the lake studies, ranging from measuring rainwater to offering a private dock where the researchers can moor their boat.

State, private and university researchers are working on the Priest Lake research. Bouchard and Todd work for KCM, Inc., of Seattle.

Here are some of the things they’re learning:

East-side streams are putting few minerals and nutrients into the lake. “Even though there’s been a lot of logging, the sediment load is low,” said Rothrock.

The two biggest sources of Priest Lake water are the Thoroughfare (the river channel leading from Upper Priest Lake) and Granite Creek, on the west side. Those contribute a lot of sediment to the lake. They haven’t determined what the source of the sediment is.

Despite concerns about powerboats traveling in the Thoroughfare, the summer vegetation there is so thick that erosion from boat wakes doesn’t seem to be a problem. In the winter, when the water is three feet lower, there’s probably a lot of natural erosion there, Rothrock said.

No sidebar in the Spokane edition.