Coeur d'Green Landscaping

OUR GEM: Coeur d’Alene’s Wastewater History

OUR GEM: Coeur d’Alene’s Wastewater History By Mike Anderson, City of Coeur d’Alene Wastewater Utility Director In 1939, the City of Coeur d’Alene began treating its wastewater at a brand-new facility. This plant used secondary treatment, a new level of technology just beginning to be seen in large cities, but almost unheard of in small communities like ours, with a population of barely 10,000. Motivated by a desire to be a good neighbor and environmental stewards, the City was also…

Sediment from rain event in North Idaho Stream

OUR GEM: Tackling Nonpoint Source Pollution in North Idaho, Protecting Coeur d’Alene Lake

OUR GEM: Tackling Nonpoint Source Pollution in North Idaho, Protecting Coeur d’Alene Lake Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution is a major environmental issue in North Idaho, particularly within the growing Coeur d’Alene Lake watershed. Unlike point source pollution, which stems from identifiable discharge points like pipes or ditches, NPS pollution is transported by diffuse sources such as rain or snowmelt. These waters pick up pollutants from urban areas, agricultural land, forests, and residential zones, eventually draining into lakes, rivers, and groundwater….

OUR GEM: North Idaho Green Summit

OUR GEM: North Idaho Green Summit

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…

Wolf Lodge sampling, photo provided by Todd Higens, IDEQ.

OUR GEM: Understanding Water Quality Monitoring on Coeur d’Alene Lake

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…

Hikers on Tubbs Hill Trail

OUR GEM: Help Keep Tubbs Healthy

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….

OUR GEM: What’s Not So Obvious?

OUR GEM: What’s Not So Obvious?

By Dave Muise, Vice President of the Board, Kootenai Environmental Alliance. I was standing by Coeur d’Alene Lake on a fall day taking in the beautiful view when a woman passing by asked me “Has the lake turned over yet?”.  I gave her a vacant look, smiled and said “no”, having no idea what I was saying “no” to.   “Turn over” was what you did to pancakes, and no spatula I’ve ever seen could turn over a lake!  A little…

OUR GEM: Drought and Snowpack Update for the Idaho Panhandle

OUR GEM: Drought and Snowpack Update for the Idaho Panhandle

Written by Robin Fox, Service Hydrologist for the National Weather Service – Spokane After a dry and mild fall, many were looking forward to an increase of moisture across northern Idaho to lessen the drought impacts that have persisted for the last two years. Since last fall, the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has been advertising wetter than normal conditions for the winter season across the Inland NW with the arrival of La Niña. The rounds of…

Pack River 2024

OUR GEM: Understanding TMDLs and Restoring Water Quality in Idaho

Written by Jade Clickenbeard, Watershed Analyst for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Water quality is essential for the health of Idaho’s communities, ecosystems, and economies. Unfortunately, many of the region’s rivers, lakes, and streams face water quality issues, often related to pollution from agriculture, urban runoff, and legacy mine waste contamination. In Idaho, the Clean Water Act (CWA) provides a framework for addressing these challenges, and one of the key tools used to restore impaired water bodies is the…

Our Gem: Evaluating Risk in Coeur d’Alene Lake Recreational Areas

Our Gem: Evaluating Risk in Coeur d’Alene Lake Recreational Areas

The Coeur d’Alene River Basin, Coeur d’Alene Lake, and the Spokane River are impacted by heavy metals from historic mining practices that began in the 1880s. This has resulted in the area being designated as an EPA National Priorities List (NPL) Site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). The site was listed in 1983 and is known as the Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site. Although mining practices have evolved, in tandem with operations…

An offload pad sloped to drain any spilled material to the main containment. Photo provided by Panhandle Health.

OUR GEM: The Critical Materials Program Protects our Aquifer

By: Jenny Gray, Panhandle Health Aquifer Protection Program Coordinator North Idaho is home to some breathtakingly beautiful bodies of water. The area’s most important water resource, however, is one we cannot readily see, as it lies beneath our feet – the Spokane Valley – Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer (SVRPA). The SVRPA covers roughly 370 square miles in northern Idaho and eastern Washington and is composed of Ice Age flood-deposited gravels, cobbles, and boulders. It is an unconfined aquifer, meaning no continuous…