Catch a wave

POST FALLS - A whitewater park below Avista Utilities' Post Falls Dam - a desire of Spokane River enthusiasts for years - will become reality.

Avista has purchased a 2.8-acre site about a half mile downstream from the dam to develop the park this summer.

It will be called Trailer Wave Park, named by kayakers after the poplar wave where two channels of the river merge.

"Our goal is to get access to that spot," said Speed Fitzhugh, Avista's Spokane River license manager.

Fitzhugh said some kayakers have been trespassing on private property to access the wave. The park will make it so that's no longer the case.

The site, which is on the north side of the river off west Lundy Boulevard, will include a staging area for kayakers and others, a six-stall parking lot, restroom and trail to the river.

"It should be completed in late fall and be ready for the next recreation season," Fitzhugh said.

Fitzhugh said the project is part of the requirements of the dam license issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission five years ago.

Avista recently purchased the site from a landowner for $280,000. Both McGuire and Corbin parks are downstream from the property.

"We want to get people (to the wave) legally and safely," Fitzhugh said. "This should relieve some of the pressure at McGuire Park."

Fitzhugh declined to say the estimated cost to develop the site, citing a desire to maintain a competitive bid environment.

Dave Fair, Post Falls' parks and recreation director, said a whitewater park below the dam has been identified as a need by outdoor enthusiasts for several years.

"This will give them another access spot," Fair said.

Over the past five years, as part of the dam license, Avista has invested about $1.2 million in improving 18 recreation sites in North Idaho on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and St. Joe rivers.

The whitewater site at Post Falls will not meet the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

"It's geared as a place to put your kayak in the water, paddle across the river and play in the wave for awhile and get out," Fitzhugh said.

Fitzhugh said trees will be planted along the border of the property as a buffer for adjacent landowners.

Debbie Simock, Avista spokeswoman, said Avista will be working with Kootenai County Parks and Waterways and the Post Falls Parks and Recreation Department to see if either agency is interested in maintaining the site.

"Otherwise we will contract it out to a third party entity to ensure it is properly managed," she said.