What's up, docks?

By RALPH BARTHOLDT

Staff Writer

HAYDEN LAKE — Decrepit docks stored in a Hayden Lake bay have drawn the indignation of neighbors who say the junked structures are destroying the bay’s natural beauty and wildlife habitat.

But the Hayden Lake Watershed Association, which monitors activity on the lake, says it’s making an effort to remove the docks from the northeast corner of Mokins Bay slough as soon as possible.

The issue arose last spring when more than a dozen docks, cut loose from lakefront properties, were towed to a corner of the slough nearest Hayden Lake Road, where they could be pulled from the lake and be destroyed.

Work last spring slowed to a trickle, however. Summer progressed, and the docks have remained at the site.

Their popped planks, torn-away canopies, and flotation — styrofoam or plastic barrels — float like flotsam among pond lilies and buttercups, making the docks a motley array of junk.

The slow-motion cleanup prompted calls from neighbors to the watershed association, which takes on water projects and has been instrumental for more than a decade in removing castaway docks.

Association manager Todd Watkins said removing junk docks is supposed to be the dock owner’s responsibility, but his group has taken the lead — in some cases against its best interests — to discard the floating heap of wood and nails.

“It’s ugly,” Watkins said.

Last winter’s extended period of snow and ice took its toll on docks on the lake, he said. For more than a decade, the district has stored docks at Mokins and usually removes the junked structures earlier in the year. Because of the greater number of wrecked docks this year, removal has taken longer.

“We usually have four or five, but this year because of the snow and ice, we had 17 docks,” Watkins said.

For temporary mooring, the group uses Mokins slough because it is one of the few places accessible to equipment. The East Hayden Lake Road’s shoulder meets the shoreline here, and machinery can easily pull out the docks and load them to be hauled away. Nearby Camp MiVoden burns the wooden debris.

Kimberly Grandinetti, a University of Washington professor who owns property nearby, said the floating junk “is causing litter and debris all over and it floats back into the bay.”

She blames the junk for habitat loss for turtles and raptors.

“The (styrofoam) is floating everywhere and is a danger to birds and habitat,” Grandinetti wrote in a letter to the watershed association.

Watkins said he spent much of the day Wednesday picking up the foam flotation material that had broken away from the junked docks.

Although the Idaho Department of Lands issues dock permits, resource supervisor Jim Brady said his department doesn’t keep tabs on what happens to old docks.

The state lands department and other agencies, including Hayden Lake’s watershed association, are often left holding the bag when it comes to dumped docks that float hazardously in area lakes.

“It’s a problem on all the water bodies,” Brady said.

In Lake Coeur d’Alene, free-floating docks often end up in the Spokane River, which carries them to the Post Falls dam, leaving Avista — the power company — to pull them from the river, he said. The same thing happens on Lake Pend Oreille, where the docks are left to float down the Pend Oreille River.

“The (Army Corps of Engineers) end up dealing with them at Albeni Falls dam,” he said. “The property owners are responsible for disposing of them properly.”

Once docks are cut loose, it’s difficult to trace them to former owners, and marine patrol officers on inland lakes usually tow the docks to the nearest shore because they’re a hazard to boaters.

Meanwhile at Hayden Lake, Watkins said he empathizes with Mokins Bay property owners who deem the temporary dump an eyesore and a liability.

“We’re not trying to antagonize anyone,” he said. “It’s unfortunate. It comes down to people who don’t take care of their docks. There is always someone who will abuse a situation.”