Health of Fernan Lake at stake

COEUR d'ALENE — A management plan for Fernan Lake is scheduled to be outlined at a special meeting of the Fernan City Council at 5 p.m. Monday at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library Community Room. 

"The plan will address the reduction of phosphorus and other mitigation techniques to maintain and restore Fernan Lake to secure its beneficial use," Mayor Ray Watkins wrote in a recent letter to Fernan residents.

The estimated six-month project will review historical data, assess the lake and collect stakeholders' input; assess sediments to quantify phosphorus availability and identify short-term and long-term solutions; and finalize a lake management plan, according to the letter.

Last fall, the city solicited proposals from consultants or consulting teams with expertise in lake management planning, treatment of surface water and harmful algae blooms to prepare a management plan for the 400-acre lake just east of Coeur d'Alene.

According to the Request for Proposal, there have been several studies completed on Fernan Lake and its watershed.

The studies resulted in proposals and projects to address phosphorus entering lake, but none have been implemented. 

Fernan Lake is currently listed by the Department of Environmental Quality as impaired by excess nutrients/eutrophication, which results in blue-green algae blooms visible on the lake's surface.

"The latest project proposal was to study the effect of lowering the lake water surface level by up to 5 feet to create/restore wetlands on the east end of Fernan Lake," according to the RFP.

Funding for the project, nearly $800,000, "was canceled by the DEQ due to lack of support from some stakeholders," the RFP said.

Heidi Acuff, former Fernan mayor, said lowering the lake 5 feet would have had several negative impacts, including making boat ramps close to useless and lead to a shallower, warmer and stagnant lake. At its deepest, the lake is 26 feet.

"It wasn't going to clean the lake," Acuff said.

With this most recent effort, two companies, EutroPhix and AquaTechnex, were selected.

"The lake has experienced poor water quality for decades and frequent lakewide algae blooms comprised of toxic cyanobacteria," according to an outline from EutroPhix. 

The outline said most of the phosphorus enters the lake from Fernan Creek, but a data gap exists on the extent that lake sediments recycle phosphorus and maintain harmful algal blooms.

The lake's watershed is 13,700 acres, comprised mostly of evergreen forests and surrounded primarily by low- and medium-intensity development.

"It is expected that implementing both in-lake and watershed management approaches will be needed to accelerate water quality restoration at Fernan Lake," the outline states.

According to Watkins, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Water Resources, Department of Lands, Coeur d’Alene Tribe and others "advocating for the lake's health" will be involved in this latest effort.

Monday's council meeting will be the first to present the goals and background of the project, as well as to present preliminary results of the lakebed sediment samples completed in November.

Organizers want to hear from fishermen, boaters and other lake users, as well as residents.

"As an important stakeholder with an interest in protecting and improving Fernan Lake, please join us," Watkins wrote.