Meadow Complex near Hudlow Junction closes for restoration
The Idaho Panhandle National Forests will begin restoring the meadow complex near Hudlow Junction along the Little North Fork Coeur d’Alene River.
Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service
COEUR d’ALENE — The Idaho Panhandle National Forests announced Friday that it will begin restoring the meadow complex near Hudlow Junction along the Little North Fork Coeur d’Alene River this summer.
An order closing the meadow to camping and hiking is scheduled to go into effect July 8. Restoration work scheduled into the fall of 2025 will focus on improving habitat conditions for westslope cutthroat trout.
Activities will include placing large wood in stream channels to provide cover for fish and encourage the formation of pool habitat, modifying channels to ensure that high spring flows can spill out onto adjacent floodplains, and flooding historic side channels and low-lying areas by mimicking beaver activity, according to a press release.
“The meadow has become popular for RVs and OHVs, which is untenable in the long run in terms of resource damage,” Holly Hampton, district ranger for the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District, said. “One outcome of the restoration work is that the meadow will be inaccessible to vehicles, bringing the site in line with its designation as a non-motorized area.”
Weed treatments will take place to facilitate replanting the meadows with riparian plant species like cottonwood, willow and western red cedar.
Crews and heavy equipment will begin staging material in the meadow in 2024 followed by the construction of log jams, excavation work and the installation of beaver dam analogs in 2025, the release said.
Hudlow Meadow has become a popular location for RV camping, and ATV and dirt bike riding, uses that are illegal under Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations 261.13, which establishes that motor vehicle use is allowed only where designated by a Motor Vehicle Use Map.
While the current MVUM designates Road 209 adjacent to the meadow as open to all vehicles with dispersed camping allowed on both sides of the road, the meadow complex is more than 300 feet from the road, where motor vehicle use is prohibited, the release said.