Lions support Priest Lake park

COOLIN — The Priest Lake Lions Club recently contributed $5,000 to support the reconstruction of a retaining wall at a public park and boat launch in Coolin. 

Deterioration of the existing wall led Bonner County to provide replacement concrete blocks, Priest Lake residents were told they needed to find funding for additional materials and construction. 

According to Reny Rose, vice president of the club, the Lions saw it as a critical project in the community. 

“It's the only access that residents have for the lake,” she said. “Everything else is private property.” 

Rose also emphasized the importance of ensuring the structure won’t collapse unexpectedly. 

“You don't want kids climbing on a falling-down wall,” she said. 

Along with the retaining structure, the Lions expect to donate a bench for the park in the coming months. 

According to Rose, the club has been collecting residents’ plastic waste in bins around Priest Lake for almost two years and offering it to Trex — a Virginia-based manufacturer of composite decking and railing materials. 

As a show of appreciation for the club’s contributions (“We've collected about 10,000 pounds of plastic film,” Rose said) the company is offering a free bench that will be added with the wall in the spring of 2025.