Written by Woody Wood, Outreach and Education Coordinator for Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, lake enthusiast, and Green Summit presenter. Are you ready to Summit? When my youngest was in Scouts, one of our summer adventures was a supported hike of the Seven Summits; We journeyed over 50 miles from Nettleton Gulch, on the east side of Coeur d’Alene, to Farragut State Park on the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille. Along the way, we hiked to the top of…
By Meg Wolf, Assistant Director of Idaho Water Resources Research Institute; Craig Cooper, Limnologist with Idaho Department of Environmental Quality; and Dale Chess, Senior Lake Limnologist with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. Monitoring the health of Coeur d’Alene Lake is a collaborative effort involving multiple organizations, each contributing important pieces to the bigger picture of the lake’s condition. Four key groups — the United States Geologic Survey (USGS), the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ), the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, and volunteers…
If I asked you how many people use Tubbs Hill each year, what would you guess? A few years ago, the city’s estimate was about 30,000. The Tubbs Hill Foundation has noticed a marked increase in trail wear in recent years. We work closely with the city of Coeur d’Alene Parks Department, and in 2022 they purchased a trail counter. In the first six months, it recorded over 155,000 counts of people. After a full year, we had over 364,000….
What IS the future of Our Gem Coeur d’Alene Lake’s water quality? That is the question on the minds of many in northern Idaho, including state and tribal governments tasked with monitoring and improving water quality, elected officials with jurisdiction on the Lake, shoreline property owners, the local tourism industry, and many concerned citizens. Why? Historical mining activities deposited millions of tons of contaminated and potentially toxic sediment including zinc, cadmium, and lead into Coeur d’Alene Lake and its tributaries….