No-wake zone for Upper Priest capsizes

COOLIN — A proposal to designate Upper Priest Lake a no-wake zone capsized and sank on Thursday.

The Bonner County Waterways Advisory Board declined to forward the proposal to the county commission, but did recommend the county update an existing ordinance regulating motor boating on the lake.

County officials have received a cascade of e-mails, both for and against the no-wake proposal. But few voiced support for the measure when the waterways board took up the matter at a standing-room-only meeting at Priest Lake.

The meeting attracted more than 80 people and around 30 people objected to banning vessels from casting a wake on the upper lake. Only three people spoke in favor of the proposal.

“Our intent is not to restrict access to anyone,” said Mark Sprengel, executive director of the Selkirk Conservation Alliance, which is advocating for the no-wake designation.

The proposed wake rule was meant to restore some of the tranquility of the 1,300-acre lake is renowned for. Supporters argued Priest Lake, which is some 26,000 acres, provides ample room for power boaters to throttle down.

But the room was largely hostile to the proposal. Critics dressed down the measure as an unfair and unwarranted infringement on the rights of boaters who opt for motors instead of paddles.

Others saw something more ominous.

“It’s only the first step in trying to keep motorized vessels from using the lake,” said Ross Burgess of Nordman.

Though the rule would not have restricted motorboats or personal watercraft from accessing the lake, some point out that it would have a chilling effect because they already face a 45-minute commute up the Thorofare, which is already a no-wake zone.

A common refrain among the chorus of opponents was a recommendation that the county update its ordinance forbidding water skiing on the upper lake. The legislation was drafted prior to the advent of wakeboarding and wake surfing, and the proliferation of inflatable towables.

The committee ultimately agreed to recommend a prohibition of those activities on Upper Priest, with a possible caveat allowing people to be pulled on towables at a slow rate of speed.

“There is a lot of room for compromise,” said waterways board member Keith Sheckler, who suggested that the county’s 200-foot no-wake zone could be expanded or speed limit implemented.

But some in the audience scoffed at those suggestions.

Although advocates of the no-wake designation were shut down, there’s a chance Mother Nature could settle the issue.

The deteriorating breakwater at the north end of Priest Lake helps keep sediment from blocking motorboat access to the Thorofare. Unless the structure is replaced with something more permanent, which is estimated to cost no less than $500,000, sediment could thwart boats with a deep draft from entering the Thorofare.