Silver Valley to get safe zone for migration

The polluted waterways of Idaho’s Silver Valley can be deadly for birds, so the federal government plans to create a pollution-free landing zone for migrating waterfowl.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it will perform a quick Superfund cleanup of 400 acres in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin to provide a safe place for birds to rest and feed.

“Public and private interests have come together in Idaho on behalf of waterfowl and other wildlife,” said Michael Bogert, the EPA regional administrator in Seattle.

More than a century of mining and smelting of silver and other minerals have left extensive heavy metals pollution in the narrow Silver Valley. The area is in the midst of an ongoing Superfund cleanup campaign that is three decades from completion.

High concentrations of cadmium, lead, zinc and other metals have been found. Birds that land in the Silver Valley frequently eat lead-contaminated sediment and many die. An annual “die-off” has occurred for decades.

The problem is so pervasive that the Spokane chapter of the Sierra Club periodically presents the Dead Swan Award to a politician who helps polluters. The award is named for tundra swans that migrate through the Coeur d’Alene basin each spring and die of lead poisoning.

Amber Waldref of The Lands Council, a Spokane environmental group, said the announcement of a new safe haven for birds is good news.

“We assume birds will use this area and not go to areas still contaminated,” she said.

The EPA said it had reached an agreement with the state of Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene Indian tribe, Ducks Unlimited and a private property owner. The “conservation easement” agreement covers about 400 acres of private land in the valley near Medimont, Idaho.

Under its terms, the EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct a Superfund cleanup action over the coming months, converting existing agricultural land to clean wetland waterfowl feeding habitat.

The property will not be open to the public.