OUR GEM: Restoration turns back the clock at Hepton Lake

Last year, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe wrapped up construction on an ambitious wetland restoration project that has been in the works for more than a decade. The Snyihms he mulshu’lmkhw Project (Swimmer’s Landing among the Cottonwoods) is located along the bank of the lower St. Joe River in a place that Tribal people referred to as emish n(ilemn, meaning “waiting for the animal place.” The site formerly was a floodplain marsh and wet meadow, regularly inundated by floods from the river. The presence of culturally significant plants and wildlife supported a high level of use by the Coeur d’Alene People.