Priest Lake funding locked down

PRIEST RIVER — The dilemma of the evanescent breakwater and Thorofare at Priest Lake has persisted for more than 20 years.

Sedimentation and the breakdown of the aging breakwater threatened to make the channel connecting Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake impassable to powerboats. Replacing the breakwater has long been viewed as part of the solution, but funding for such a costly project was always elusive.

But the dilemma era is finally drawing to a close as funding for the $2.6 million project snaps into place.

State Senator Shawn Keough and state reps. Sage Dixon and Heather Scott huddled with county officials and other stakeholders at the lake and resolved to develop a package of projects to replace the breakwater, conduct dredging operations and make improvements to Outlet Bay Dam. The latter project is aimed at maintaining a reliable water level on the lower lake in drought years.

The Idaho Department of Water Resources helped get the ball rolling with a $300,000 engineering study. Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter provided $2.4 million in state funding for the dam improvements, but declined to provide $2.6 million in funding for the breakwater.

Dale Van Stone, a former Bonner County commissioner who sits on the Idaho Water Resources Board, said $2.4 million was found in the department’s budget. Save Our Thorofare chipped in donations it had collected and the county kicked in additional funds. An Idaho Parks & Recreation waterways improvement fund grant was obtained to pay for dredging operations.

“We reached our goal of 2.6 million-plus (dollars),” Van Stone told the Idaho Lakes Commission last week.

Van Stone told the board that timing was a key factor in securing the funding. Keough co-chairs the influential Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee, but is retiring after the legislative session.

“We realized we had a window to work with and it was this year,” Van Stone said.

Steve Klatt, also a former county commissioner who was the county’s Parks’ Director as the projects gained momentum said there were other crucial factors in their success — community involvement and support.

“Priest Lake was truly willing to put skin in the game to see this thing happen and that’s really and truly one of the reasons it happened,” said Klatt.

Klatt said residents such as Ken Hagman, Bruce Yocum and Craig Hill donated vast amounts of their time, and in some cases resources, toward tackling the dilemma over the years.

Van Stone said funding for the projects becomes available in July, the start of Idaho’s fiscal year. Work on the project is expected to take at least two years.

Hill, a lakes commissioner who served on breakwater committee for 17 years, is hopeful the community will have some influence on the aesthetics of the breakwater as it serves as the gateway to the upper lake.

“One of the biggest concerns that everyone at the lake has is, as this new plan comes into place, we want to be part of it or at least have a seat at the table when the time comes,” said Hill.

Klatt said Idaho Water Resources will have a public involvement process that will bring in local input.

There are concerns, meanwhile, that improvements to the dam will benefit the lake at the expense of the Priest River.

“What does that do to the river below? Will we see another situation like we did in 2015 where 26 miles of river just dries up?” asked Betty Gardner, who lives on the river.

Van Stone said the state hopes to sidestep that scenario in drought years by closely monitoring snowpack levels and drawing up the lake sooner than normal while maintaining outflow to the river.

“The idea is to get ahead of this,” Van Stone said of drought-year conditions.

Current snowpack levels in the northern Panhandle is 121 percent of normal, according to state officials.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.