Group Has E On North Fork Cleanup

The citizens group watching federal mining pollution cleanup in the Coeur d’Alene Basin wants to oversee restoration of the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River.

The steep reaches of the North Fork have been choked with dirt and rocks from decades of logging and forest roads that hammered native trout runs.

The Idaho Citizens Advisory Committee wants to serve as the public voice for cleaning up the river’s sediment problems.

But some conservationists question the committee’s ability to rein in logging because its members includes representatives of the timber companies Weyerhaeuser Corp. and Potlatch Corp.

“No matter how the CAC has handled the toxic metals pollution, I think the public would have to hold a high level of suspicion when they wade into water issues,” said John Osborn, a Spokane physician who helped found The Lands Council.

The only way to rescue the North Fork is remove erosion-causing roads and let the forest canopy grow back, Osborn said.

State officials said they see no problems with the committee’s new role.

“It’s the same people already interested in water quality and already working with us,” said Ed Tulloch, Idaho Division of Environmental Quality’s regional water quality manager.

The group will have to add a few new members representing North Fork landowners, especially the U.S. Forest Service, which owns about 90 percent of the drainage. Other groups, such as anglers, also will be considered for participation, Tulloch said.

Forest Service officials say they are managing roads to control erosion problems on the North Fork.

The Coeur d’Alene basin is the most heavily roaded national forest in the nation. Up to 10 miles of road per square mile weave the North Fork drainage, according to Rick Patten, forest hydrologist for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

The agency is relocating roads near streams, redesigning or removing faulty culverts, or putting old roads “to bed” by taking out culverts, bridges and ditches.

Expected to start work in August, the watershed group eventually will advise DEQ on sediment limits for the North Fork, due to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2003.

Similar Watershed Advisory Groups already participate in bull trout recovery efforts on Lake Pend Oreille and Priest Lake.

The citizens committee originally formed in 1992 as an avenue for public input during government mining cleanup. Members say they feel a responsibility to reflect the opinions of local citizens, often wary of government regulations.