Lending a hand for public lands
<p>Jack O'Brien and Janet Heine carry bluebird boxes to be installed on trees in the meadow at Blue Creek Bay in the Wallace Forest Conservation Area east of Coeur d'Alene on Saturday.</p>
<p>A viewing bench was installed by Chris Adam and Travis Hixon, students in the North idaho College natural resources program.</p>
A little help went a long way.
In recognition of the 19th National Public Lands Day, volunteers assisted on Saturday at Blue Creek Bay in the Wallace Forest Conservation Area east of Coeur d'Alene to make the recreation site a better place for both people and habitat.
Activities included trash cleanup, installing a viewing bench along a trail, trail maintenance and installing bluebird houses on trees in a meadow. The site on Lake Coeur d'Alene was acquired by the Bureau of Land Management in 2003.
More than 700 acres around Blue Creek Bay provide public access to the lake and for conservation, recreation and historical values. The BLM's acquisition of this area was possible with the support from the Wallace Forest family, who desired the area to be managed for its conservation values.
A new trail system at the site was completed last spring.
"It's starting to get a lot of use," said Suzanne Endsley, BLM public affairs officer. "We're hoping it becomes a great place for families to go for a weekend hike, picnic lunch by the lake or an afternoon of fishing."
The site was a former log landing used to dump logs into Lake Coeur d'Alene where they would be floated down to one of several mills in the area.
Public Lands Day, which began with just three locations and 700 volunteers in 1994, has grown to 2,206 host sites in every state and about 175,000 volunteers helping improve the nation's public lands.
The theme for this year was "Helping Hands for America's Lands."
National Public Lands Day keeps the promise of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the "tree army" that worked from 1933-1942 to preserve and protect America's natural heritage.