Idaho asked to keep log booms
Preservationist group says birds, kayakers enjoy lake enclosure
A group of Cougar Bay neighbors is asking the Idaho Department of Lands for permission to keep the old logging booms and pilings that make the bay a tranquil spot for osprey and kayakers on Lake Coeur d’Alene.
About 20 pairs of ospreys nest on the pilings, said group members, who are calling themselves the Cougar Bay Osprey Protective Association. The pilings also provide resting, socializing or stalking spots for herons, cormorants, eagles and coots.
The floating log booms encircle about 150 acres of the lake. They provide calm waters for smaller craft, and protect adjoining marshland from erosion by keeping bigger boats from venturing too close to shore, group members wrote in their application to the Idaho Department of Lands.
The application also played up the historical aspect of the log booms.
“The booms and pilings are an increasingly rare example of the logging roots of our community,” group members wrote in the application. “Maintaining them will preserve a reminder to all who visit Cougar Bay of where we came from as a community.”
North Idaho Maritime, a tug operator, used the booms and pilings for log storage in Lake Coeur d’Alene until two years ago, when the last waterfront sawmill shut down.
Scott Reed, the group’s attorney, said the neighbors are applying for a lease of state waters that would allow the logging booms and pilings to remain in place. Group members would be responsible for maintaining the structures.
The neighbors submitted a similar application in late 2008, but didn’t pay the correct filing fee, Reed said. The application was resubmitted last week.
The Idaho Department of Lands will take public comment on the proposal and get feedback from other agencies before making a decision, said Carl Washburn, a navigable waters specialist.