BLM launch at Blackwell Island opens today

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Blackwell Island recreation site and boat launch on the Spokane River at Coeur d’Alene will open today. The 134-space parking lot and four-lane boat launch at Blackwell Island offers picnicking, a native plant garden and wildlife viewing along the nature trail. The site is open daily from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. through mid-October.

It costs $6 per day to use the site. Season passes cost $40 and can be used at both Blackwell Island and the Mineral Ridge boat launch. A credit card machine is available at Blackwell Island.

User fees go to maintenance and improvements at Blackwell. Over the past several years improvements included replacing the nature trail planking, installing fencing and interpretive signs and re-sealing and striping the parking lot.

— Ralph Bartholdt