Idaho state parks celebrate 100 years
Birthday cake among attractions planned at Heyburn today

HEYBURN STATE PARK, Idaho – The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation is celebrating 100 years of state parks with ceremonies at all 30 of the state’s parks today.
At Idaho’s first park, Heyburn State Park near Plummer, officials are planning a festive day of birthday cake, fun and games, dinner, a dance and lake cruises.
Created in 1908 by an act of Congress, Heyburn is the oldest state park in the Pacific Northwest, park manager Ron Hise said.
The park is named for U.S. Sen. Weldon Brinton Heyburn, who was instrumental in preserving the 5,505 acres on the southern end of Lake Coeur d’Alene and Chatcolet Lake for public use.
Apparently the senator loved the area’s scenic beauty so much that he tried to make it a national park at a time when the federal government was opening Coeur d’Alene tribal lands to settlers.
“At the time, every tribal member was allotted 160 acres and the rest was homesteaded,” Hise said.
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe was invited to participate in today’s ceremony, Hise said, but the offer was declined.
When a U.S. Supreme Court decision gave control of the southern third of Lake Coeur d’Alene to the tribe in 2001, it did not rule on the issue of the lake’s beds and banks. Though the tribe has no pending claim regarding ownership of Heyburn Park, a tribal spokesman said that the park land was taken “without consent or compensation.”
“Coeur d’Alene tribal members have a deep historical and cultural connection to the lake, which is why the tribe has fought very hard to protect it,” tribal public relations director Marc Stewart said.
At the turn of the century, Heyburn’s fellow congressmen agreed the land around the lakes should be preserved, but they were worried about the cost of maintaining another national park.
A compromise was reached in which the federal government would sell the land to Idaho for about $12,000. After a couple of years, Idaho came up with the money, and the state was left with a state park instead of a national park.
It took many more years for Idaho to develop the park with the help of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Between 1934 and 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps cleared the land and built the roads, trails, bridges and buildings at Heyburn, including 20 historic structures that still stand today.
It wasn’t until 1965 that Idaho established a Department of Parks and Recreation. Before that, the Lands Board administered the state’s recreation areas, except for a brief period from 1947 to 1949 when the Highway Department operated parks along state highways.
Heyburn is the only park in the state system that offered privately held leases on cottages – 166 of them – some of which have been in the same families for 70 years. The park board also is trying to decide the fate of some 24 floating homes permanently anchored in Hidden Lake.
Today, park officials are restoring some of the historic buildings at Heyburn and constructing a new headquarters and visitors center. But much new development, including concessions, has been thwarted by a lack of potable water and soil that doesn’t accommodate drainfields.
A new wastewater disposal system is slated to be finished in October; then park officials hope to add bicycle rentals, a food vendor and other amenities.
Heyburn State Park has three campgrounds, three boat launches, five picnic areas and two beaches. Visitors should bring drinking water.