Rule Changes Bring Stream Of Controversy Environmentalists Say Sediment Will Reach Streams; Loggers Say Restrictions Go Too Far

Loggers worry about jobs, nature-lovers about fish, and highway districts about road maintenance.

Lots of people are fretting about a proposed rule to limit activity around small streams on Idaho’s state and private lands. Others object to another possible change in forest practice rules, which would require state permits for burning logging slash.

They’ve asked for a chance to speak their minds. They’ll get it next week when the Idaho Department of Lands holds hearings on the proposed changes.

In the Panhandle, hearings will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Kootenai County Extension office in Coeur d’Alene, and 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at the Federal Building in Sandpoint.

The proposed changes have generated about 10 times the usual number of comments, said Jim Colla, state forest practices coordinator.

Stream protection is definitely a hot topic.

A current regulation keeps heavy equipment at least five feet away from streambanks. The proposal calls for 30-foot stream protection zones.

The biggest result would be to limit logging.

Some environmentalists say the new rules aren’t enough to keep sediment out of streams. They’d rather have 300-foot stream protection zones, Colla said.

“The other segment is saying `We’re already restricted. What do you want to do this for, we have to make a living,”’

At the request of logging contractors, the Kootenai County Commission was among those who asked for hearings. So did the Mica Grange. So did the county’s four highway districts, whose managers worry that the stream-protection rule will limit their ability to clean ditches along roadways.

The streams that would be protected by the rule are small, often unnamed. While they aren’t home to fish, Colla said, it’s important to keep dirt from washing into them.

“If the sediment gets into these smaller streams, it’s going to travel an awful long way,” he said. “It will find its way into fish-bearing streams.”

Reaction to the stream-protection proposal has varied, Colla said. In contrast, 90 percent of people who commented on the slash-burning proposal were deadset against it.

The rule is meant to help the state comply with the federal Clean Air Act. It would require landowners to get permits in order to burn logging debris. Before starting the fire, they’d have to call a toll-free number to be sure air conditions allowed burning that day.

“It’s modeled after a voluntary system in place for major industry land owners, and it’s similar to what Intermountain Grassgrowers do,” said Colla.

But the proposed system isn’t voluntary.

Landowners could be fined if they broke the rules.

That’s one reason Colla doesn’t expect it to survive in its current form.

Currently, landowners must get burning permits only if they live within the fire districts that require them.

Those include Kootenai County and Hayden Lake districts.

The Idaho Land Board has final say on any changes in the forest practice regulations.

The public has until March 10 to comment, either at the hearings or in writing.

Further information is available from the Idaho Department of Lands office in Coeur d’Alene.