Landers driven to defend walk-in status for lake

A zigzagging sliver of water in the scablands southwest of Davenport is a model of rare opportunity for the muscle-powered sportsman.

Z Lake isn’t named on government maps. It isn’t listed in Washington’s fishing regulations pamphlet because it’s open year-round with no special regulations.

Yet the 25-acre ribbon of water is stocked with a sparse allotment of rainbow fry, some of which grow to handsome proportions on the lake’s abundant aquatic insects.

Z Lake would be “fished out” in no time if it were along a road. But a locked gate requires most sportsmen to hike or mountain bike 1.5 miles to reach the water, whether they’re hauling a fly rod or a sack of decoys to set up for a waterfowl hunt.

The lake is on the eastern side of the 21,000-acre Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area managed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The area borders the Telford Recreation Area managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The trailhead is off Telford Road 7.5 miles south of U.S. 2 west of Davenport.

I’ve packed in my float boat to fish there once or twice a season for years. I’ve bagged a few ducks off the shoreline just before freeze-up and walked there occasionally to let my English setter run with the wind.

I included Z Lake in my guidebook, Day Hiking Eastern Washington, because it’s an isolated feature that can’t even be seen from a public road. It’s worth the walk, especially during spring.

For the price of a few miles of hiking, I’ve upped the odds of finding seclusion that’s extremely rare for a trout-stocked lowland lake near a city the size of Spokane.

For that reason, I question a one-line provision in the state’s draft management plan that allows disabled citizens to obtain a key and drive through the locked gate to Z Lake.

Anglers with disabled credentials enjoy drive-up access to numerous good fishing waters in the Spokane region, including special regulations lakes such as Amber and Medical, as well as Coffeepot in a normal water year.

On the other hand, McDowell Lake on the Little Pend Oreille National Wildlife Refuge is perhaps the closest walk-in opportunity to Spokane. It has a small clientele that likes it that way.

To find more trout-managed, walk-in, lake-fishing opportunities, an angler must head to the Potholes Reservoir area near Moses Lake or the Ancient Lakes area near Quincy.

Juli Anderson, Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area manager, says the recommendation to allow disabled access to Z Lake came from fly fishermen, some of whom volunteer to maintain the solar-powered aerator needed to protect the fishery from winterkill.

These anglers deserve gratitude for their service. Their request warrants consideration.

A potential compromise would be to set up a couple of special work/fishing days for these volunteers and the disabled anglers among them, since vehicle access is allowed for the maintenance.

Otherwise, public motorized access to Z Lake should be prohibited or at least restricted to one designated day a week.

A person who invests the travel time to the trailhead and the sweat to hike or bike into the scabrock lake should have assurance that there won’t be a vehicle at the edge of the water.

Muscle-powered access destinations have great value in our increasingly crowded world, not because they attract crowds, but because they don’t.

The merits of solitude can’t be measured by popularity.

The best example of a missed opportunity in the Inland Northwest is Upper Priest Lake.

Instead of being a distinguished muscle-powered backcountry destination that would get world-wide notice, Upper Priest is just an extension of the main Priest Lake and all that’s good and bad about it.

The upper lake is just another lake among hundreds that are sometimes trashed by noise of whining motors, boom boxes and the parties and trash that come along with them.

The clientele that travels to an area by muscle power is distinctly easier on the land than the masses allowed to arrive by motor power – any land manager will back that up.

The no-wake rule meant to reduce erosion in the serpentine thorofare between Priest and Upper Priest Lakes is a joke, often violated and rarely enforced.

Indeed, the lack of funding for enforcement is the root of most problems associated with motorized access to public lands and special features.

Of course, Z Lake’s issues are miniscule in comparison. A few disabled anglers accessing the lake by vehicle are not in the same league as the jerks everyone encounters sooner or later at Upper Priest.

But this week’s release of the state’s draft management plan for the Swanson Lakes, Revere and Reardan Audubon Lake wildlife areas offers the chance to balance wildlife habitat protection with human values.

Z Lake stands out as an opportunity for a clean designation that doesn’t saddle wildlife managers with the extra job of issuing keys to a few anglers – and monitoring the potential abusers.

There’ll be a day when I, too, won’t be able to pack a vessel 1.5 miles into a secluded trout-managed lake.

But I’ll always raise a toast to the few who are able and willing to make the effort.

Contact Rich Landers at (509) 459-5508 or email richl@spokesman.com.