In Love With Public Lands & Waters
September 10, 2024 I By Katie Cox, Executive Director
Dear Public Land Lover,
I don’t think I am making assumptions with my salutation.
Aren’t we so lucky! A few years ago a second cousin who had lived in Idaho his whole life decided he wanted to branch out and get a different view. He moved to Texas. One weekend, yearning for a nice Sunday drive, he took off. He had done plenty of Sunday drives in Idaho, wrapping himself around beautiful forested mountainsides, driving down to rivers and stopping to sit and listen for a while. He loved exploring without a map, just getting lost in the freedom of exploration.
On this Sunday in Texas he told me he drove a long way. He was looking for those pull offs, the roads that took you to the “wild” and was, in the end, a bit flummoxed by the fact that he couldn’t find anything of interest beyond the main highways and roads connecting towns. He went back and did a little research and figured out why. Texas has only 4 percent public lands. I imagine this can feel a bit “fenced in” when you consider that Idaho has 70 percent public lands. He was a bit disheartened by that fact and eventually moved back to Idaho.
Not until I heard this story did it dawn on me how lucky we were in Idaho. All the places I could camp, the trails I could walk, the rivers I could float; I truly took a little inventory, and hearing the other side of the story felt so completely grateful.
And recently, this story and my feeling of gratitude has returned to me tenfold on a great project we are involved in with a variety of partners. A number of nonprofits, the Kalispel Tribe and municipalities are in the planning stages of delineating a water trail. If you are interested in what exactly a water trail is, go peruse this site. This project has brought together such rich information involving history, land use and an expanded knowledge of local resources right in our backyard.
The first awesome surprise was discovering this sweet campground. Who knew such an awesome resource was literally right around the corner. Staycation, anyone?
What has also proved quite interesting is the discovery of all the boat ramps, wildlife management areas, Idaho Fish and Game sites, Corp of Engineer sites, marinas and ROW (Right of Way) points. In all there is a network of ways that someone paddling along the shore of the lake could get provisions, find a place to rest, camp or just put in and out for short excursions. What we are trying to do is identify these spots and help tell the millennial old story of the lake and its amazing ecosystem. Discovering this puzzle of connectivity would not be possible without all the many partners involved in this project.
Yesterday, we took boat ride no. 2 and covered the shoreline in a counterclockwise route from Dover to Hope and back to Sandpoint. The shoreline is varied and vast and I am so grateful that parts of it have been set aside for public use, for conservation and for you and for me.
How lucky are we to live and recreate in this great lake? I look forward to the day that this is all mapped out and those that may not experience this lake to its fullest have a bit more confidence to paddle or sail its shorelines knowing that there are places that you can stop and rest when you are tired. Maybe one day we can do this together?
In love with the lake,
Katie
