Panhandle Has Office

Thirty years after beginning its work in North Idaho, the Nature Conservancy has opened a Panhandle office.

In 1964, the international organization bought 141 acres near Upper Priest Lake, its first Idaho purchase. But it settled in the south, in rapidly growing Sun Valley, when it opened an Idaho office in 1986.

The Hayden Lake office opened Nov. 1 in recognition that the lakes and forests of the Panhandle are worlds apart from the grasslands, gorges and peaks farther south, said Mark Elsbree, North Idaho director.

“A lot of the issues are different up here, and geographically, it’s hard to reach,” said Elsbree, a former fishing guide and Dartmouth College graduate who worked seven years in the Sun Valley office.

Many North Idaho residents already are familiar with the conservancy’s work.

Among other projects, the organization has:

Purchased and preserved 12,000 acres in Hells Canyon since 1986.

Purchased 200 acres at Gamble Lake, 10 miles southeast of Sandpoint, in 1993. The conservancy sold 150 acres to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with an agreement that the land would be managed for wildlife and recreation.

Bought 100 acres at Lake Coeur d’Alene’s Cougar Bay last year to protect it from development.

It sold 12 shoreline acres to the Bureau of Land Management as a wildlife refuge.

Arranged for a Moscow, Idaho, couple to buy and preserve 60 acres of wetlands and grizzly bear habitat west of Priest Lake. The transaction was completed in December.

Elsbree would not pinpoint specific parcels the conservancy may try to acquire. The highest priorities for the North Idaho office are preserving marshes and other wetlands as well as property along Lake Coeur d’Alene and the east side of Priest Lake, he said.

As in other places, the North Idaho work is being supported by contributions from individuals and businesses, including some not normally associated with environmental causes. The corporate donors include Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., Idaho Forest Industries and McCormack Properties Idaho Inc.

McCormack is the company that planned the Cougar Bay development and still plans to build a controversial 92-home subdivision overlooking the bay.