Lake Enhancement Projects/Volunteer Opportunities
The Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club has two yearly lake enhancement and protection events:
1) In May, the LPOIC sponsors an event where the Kootenai County Marine Sheriff's SCUBA dive team along with divers from Jake's SCUBA adventures bring up debris from under the Bayview marina. LPOIC volunteers assist by weighing and loading debris to trailers that take it the transfer station in Coeur d'Alene.
2) In August, our volunteers help improve the Kokanee spawning habitat along a 1/4th mile stretch of Sullivan Springs, a tributary of Granite Creek on the east side of Lake Pend Oreille. Volunteers rake the spawning beds removing sediment and weeds. This event is sponsored by AVISTA and Idaho Fish & Game.
PHOTOS below:
History of LPOIC's Lake Enhancement Projects: the role of the LPOIC, past and present
Over the years, the LPOIC has contributed to a variety of efforts to improve the kokanee population. Their contributions include lake level issue projects, acquisition of spawning habitat, assisting IDFG with data collection and providing volunteers that work to enhance the spawning productivity of Sullivan Springs each year.
In March of 2000, the Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club acquired almost 60 acres surrounding a portion of Sullivan Springs with the goal of protecting the spawning habitat. In cooperation with AVISTA and the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Wetlands Trust the acreage was purchased and then donated to IDFG. Every year since 2014, LPOIC volunteers have assisted biologists from AVISTA and Idaho Fish and Game remove silt that accumulates on the gravel spawning beds of Sullivan Springs.
Future Projects – Sustainability of the Lake Pend Oreille fishery
Understanding future sustainability issues will require some attention by our local anglers. Examples of future issues include possible lake level changes by Bonneville Power at Albany dam in addition to the impact of increasing numbers of northern pike and walleye on the kokanee population.
Want to volunteer? Contact lakepoic@gmail.com