Funding blockage could shutter Priest outhouses

SANDPOINT — Federal budget cuts and staff reductions are threatening the U.S. Forest Service’s ability to service more than 20 campsite outhouses at Priest Lake.

“It’s a big concern that we have now,” said John Olson, a Forest Service recreation technician for boating on Priest Lake.

The issue surfaced at last Friday’s meeting of the Lakes Commission, a board that advises the state on water quality and quantity issues in the Priest and Pend Oreille basins.

Olson said the agency’s 21-year-old barge and the pumping equipment used to empty the outhouse vaults are on their last legs and there is no funding budgeted in the foreseeable future to replace them.

“The deferred maintenance is catching up with us. At some point, our system will not be operational or viable just due to wear and tear, and age,” Olson said.

The Forest Service maintains 26 outhouses around the lake, including ones on Kalispell, Bartoo and Eightmile islands.

The barge and pumping system will have operational capacity to open the outhouses for the 2014 camping season. However, the system’s operating status is unclear after 2014.

Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation grants have been denied for a replacement vessel — estimated to cost up to $300,000 — because the Forest Service has been unable to come up with the 25-percent match funding.

Priest Lake District Ranger Matt Davis said the Forest Service is exploring a dozen options to stay ahead of the problem given that thousands of people flock to the lake every summer.

“Those campsites, during the weekdays and weekends from June to late August, are full every single day,” said Davis.

However, the Forest Service admits it is also considering demolishing the outhouses and implementing an order requiring campers to pack out their sewage, which Olson said would require “draconian” enforcement — something the agency cannot afford either.

Bonner County Commission Chairman Cary Kelly said it’s unlikely marine deputies would fill that role due to other priorities, which raised the question of closing some campsites.

“Suspicious people might wonder if some purists out there would want that to happen,” said Ford Elsaesser, chairman of the Lakes Commission.

Lakes Commissioner Linda Mitchell doubted a pack-out order would be observed by the public and urged the Forest Service to raise use fees.

“We all know human nature. There’s going to be degradation to Priest Lake,” she said.

Brent Baker, another lakes commissioner, was puzzled by the federal funding impasse.

“It seems an absurdity that the wealthiest nation in the world can’t figure out how to empty the toilets,” Baker said.