Camp Closures Draw Protests

People along the Coeur d’Alene River are wondering why health concerns closed two popular beaches to camping when lead shows up at so many other waterfront spots.

Elevated blood lead levels in Silver Valley children prompted the U.S. Forest Service to bar overnight use of Medimont and Rainy Hill areas on July 1.

But lead and other metals washed downriver from mines have accumulated along the Coeur d’Alene River for years.

A lot of people are frustrated that the agency’s camping ban singled out their favorite places. A small parade has marched through the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District’s Fernan offices to complain.

Medimont Valley Mart store owner Jan Phillips said if human health were really at risk, more river beaches would be closed to camping.

She accused the Forest Service of banning camping so it wouldn’t have to manage the unofficial campgrounds. “Every lake is contaminated,” she said. “It’s not really a health problem. It’s just politically convenient.”

Forest Service officials vehemently deny the charges and say they are trying to reopen a portion of the area to camping later this season.

“Purely from a human health standpoint, those sites were deemed unsuitable for overnight camping,” said Jeff Johnson, district geologist. “We’re not just blindly knee-jerk reacting to this.”

Panhandle Health District interviews linked 16 children with elevated lead levels to the two sites, plus a private pond near Kellogg.

Sediment and soil samples taken by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency at Rainy Hill and Medimont were as high as 4,150 parts per million of lead, compared with the 2,000 ppm level where officials take action to prevent contamination.

More soil samples next week may pinpoint uncontaminated areas where people can camp by early fall, such as a basalt hill at Rainy Hill, he said.

To safeguard day users at boat launches and fishing beaches in the meantime, the Forest Service is putting gravel over high-use areas.

Local health officials say they don’t favor closing any camping areas.

The Panhandle Health District would much rather warn people - especially visitors unfamiliar with the area - about lead and how to avoid it, the district’s Jerry Cobb said.

“Closing them down is simply going to force people to go someplace else where you don’t have samples, don’t have access to put up signs,” Cobb said. “I’d rather bring them into a number of developed areas than run them out into the hinterlands where they don’t have a clue.”

Last spring, the EPA found lead levels of concern at 32 of 47 sites tested, but officials say lead contaminates most shoreline areas.

Lead levels were as high as 4,240 parts per million at Killarney Lake, which is run by the Bureau of Land Management. That agency has spent roughly $150,000 capping contamination with asphalt and shoring up lead-heavy streambanks.

BLM has “absolutely” no plans to ban camping at the heavily-used lake, area manager Eric Thomson said.

Thomson said the biggest problem for land management agencies dealing with hazardous substances is finding money to pay for it. “The Forest Service is in the same unfortunate situation that BLM is,” he said. “There’s not enough money to fix everything.”

But Phillips says the feds touched off the controversy by only taking action at one site.

“They opened a can of worms,” she said.