Priest Lake water management project a big success

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Dawn breaks on the northern end of Priest Lake on a quiet July morning, casting a golden glow on the water.

A lone angler fishes off the point of the new 1,500-foot-long Breakwater structure, while a water-skier carves perfect turns.

“We came up to ski on the glassy water in the north end of the lake,” says Craig Hill, owner of Hill’s Resort on Priest Lake. “I have a friend here from France and he used to ski professionally and we got to do that today!”

Hill is the owner of Hill’s Resort, a popular lodging, dining and boating destination on the west shore of Priest Lake.

He’s one of many “Priest Lakers” who are quite pleased with the newly constructed Breakwater feature, built last winter. The deepened Thorofare channel provides clear access for all types of boats to reach Upper Priest Lake now.

“They put this in in no time at all, once they staged the boulders, they were in and out of here in 3 months,” Hill says. “It was spectacular how well that went.”

Adds Ken Hagman, a long-time Priest Lake resident, “They did a fantastic job. We don’t feel it could have come out any better.”

Priest Lake is one of the most scenic and popular lakes in the state of Idaho. It’s a prized tourism asset and much-adored place for locals to play in the Idaho Panhandle.

In the last year, the Idaho Water Resource Board has invested $5 million in the Priest Lake Improvement Project to create a new, permanent Breakwater structure, deepen the Thorofare channel, and add 6 inches of height to the outlet dam.

The new dam height will allow the state to hold the lake a little higher during the recreation season in dry years in order to maintain the lake levels at full pool. State law requires the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) to maintain Priest Lake at full pool for lake and dock access during the recreational season.

“I think that’s a positive thing,” Hill said.

Construction work on the outlet dam will occur in the winter of 2021-22.

Due to limited water supplies in drought years like 2015, it has been difficult to maintain required lake levels during the recreation season.

That prompted the Idaho Water Resource Board to do a $300,000 study on Priest Lake water management.

Locals lobbied the Board to explore a long-term solution for the Breakwater and Thorofare as part of the study.

“From the mid-90s to when I came to work for Bonner County in 2015, the Breakwater went from poor to bad to worse over those 20 years and was truly in a state of disrepair by 2015,” says Steve Klatt, Director of the Bonner County Road and Bridge Department.

Sediment was plugging the Thorofare channel, and the aging breakwater structure was failing to keep the channel open.

“The last 6-7 years, there were places where people had to get out, they’d run their props into the sand, and they’d have to get out and push their boats, especially at the mouth of where the Thorofare meets the lake,” says Randy Ramey, who lives in a home adjacent to the Thorofare channel.

“In my heart, if we can’t go to the upper lake, can’t go to the Thorofare, it’s like taking a big trip to Yellowstone National Park, and Old Faithful is closed,” said Fred Cox, a Priest Lake resident.

In 2015, Cox and other Priest Lakers formed the Breakwater Committee and launched a fund-raising campaign to Save the Thorofare.

When the Water Board visited Priest Lake, Klatt and the Priest Lakers took them on a boat ride.

“We were really just presenting to them, the economic force that water is to Bonner County. It’s a $20 million-plus industry, and it rivals the uses of water of agriculture in S. Idaho and the economic impacts and economic benefits,” Klatt says.

Dale Van Stone of Hope, a former Bonner County Commissioner, had been recently appointed to the Water Board. He understood the vital need for the project.

“Everyone had a vested interest in getting something done up here,” Van Stone says. “In 2015, we had a low water year. We knew we had to do something with the outlet dam, and Steve Klatt was trying to get something done with the Thorofare. Everyone combined their efforts and made it happen.”

Taking Water Board members on the boat ride was key, according to former State Senator Shawn Keough of Coeur d’Alene.

“Once we were able to get them out on the lake, and up into the Thorofare and Upper Priest Lake, that was the best thing we could have done,” said Shawn Keough, former State Senator from Coeur d’Alene and Co-chair of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. “Once they saw it, they could understand their role, and what their role could be.”

As the co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee, Keough was in a unique position to push for the project in the Statehouse.

“I had been supportive and understood the need of Southern Idaho water issues, and worked closely with Senator Bair and Speaker Scott Bedke, on water issues important to them,” she said. “Being able to explain how Northern Idaho water issues tie into the state as a whole, they became very supportive.”

Keough and the Idaho Legislature approved $5 million for the Priest Lake Water Management project. Save the Thorofare provided $155,000 and Bonner County and the Lakes Commission chipped in for a total of $250,000 in local matching funds.

“I was so surprised at the response we got,” Cox says. “We’ve had contributions from Maine to California.”

“It was definitely a great accomplishment for the whole group that worked on it,” Keough says. “It was great to have that support from the Legislature, the governor’s office, the Department and the Board.”

Strider Construction was the low-bidder on the project. The Water Board hired Mott MacDonald to serve as construction manager. First step, they removed 9,500 cubic yards of sediment from the Thorofare channel to create a new water depth of 5 feet at full pool.

Then, Strider built the Breakwater structure in four layers - starting at the bottom with geo-textile fabric and a 1-foot layer of bedding stone, 4 feet of armor stone in the middle, and the whole structure is topped with a 5-foot layer of rock boulders.

The height of the Breakwater is 8-10 feet, but it doesn’t block the view for Thorofare property owners in Sandpiper Shores.

“The new natural rock wall is phenomenal,” Ramey says. “The Sandpiper Shores Homeowners Association is really pleased how the agencies collaborated with us to maintain our views and maintain a very aesthetic functioning breakwater.”

Extra sand from the dredging project created a new beach on the lake-side of the Breakwater, a new amenity for boaters to enjoy.

Once the height of the outlet gates are extended this winter, IDWR will have the ability to store extra water in Priest Lake to maintain required lake levels in dry years.

“This year is still a trying year with the water shortage,” Van Stone says. “Call it 2015 on steroids. We’re going to have to manage this with a microscope so it works out for everybody.”

In the meantime, everyone visiting Priest Lake is enjoying the new Thorofare channel and visiting Upper Priest Lake.

“We had a partnership that, in my experience, 50 years of being involved in Idaho politics and Bonner County politics that was truly unique,” Klatt says. “I’ve never seen a project that had that kind of cooperative, cohesive partnership that was done on this thing, never seen anything like it, it’s been great.

“Priest Lake has almost a magical hold on people’s hearts. This is remarkable.”

Steve Stuebner works on communications and public relations for the Idaho Water Resource Board.