New wetlands site built near I-90
PAGE - The West End Natural Infiltration Area took seven years to permit, but just eight weeks to build.
WENI is a new wetlands area being constructed on 18 acres of state-owned land between Pinehurst and Smelterville.
"It was the perfect place to build wetlands," said Bruce Schuld, remediation manager with the Department of Environmental Quality.
The area, between Interstate 90 and the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, is remediated ground that was cleaned in the 1990s. However, it wasn't reclaimed for a future, beneficial use - it wasn't aesthetically pleasing for I-90 drivers or users of the trail.
"It just seemed to kind of exist," he said.
Schuld worked for years to create WENI because the Page repository is expanding into a wetlands area that's on contaminated ground. Wetlands provide a refuge for wildlife and house native plants. It's also a nice view for people. The expansion will be seen by drivers of Silver Valley Road near Page, but will be hidden by wetlands for those driving on the freeway.
A planting crew from North Winds Construction has been working since the middle of last week to put 23,000 plants - about 20 species - into the ground at the WENI site.
The planting phase, which includes the use of backhoes, power augers, rock bars and lots of elbow grease, should be complete next month. It'll have open water near the pumping station and a serpentine-like creek to the other end.
It'll take between 10 and 20 years for the wetlands area to meet its full potential.
Normally, Schuld said, creating wetlands costs between $65,000 and $70,000 per acre, but he hopes it'll cost more like $45,000 per acre for WENI.