Dammed Lost Creek loses water

When Jason Brazill got to Lost Creek Monday, the brook trout he normally catches were dead – floating belly up.

Where cool spring water usually flows and gurgles, only sporadic pools of still water barely covered the fish that were still alive. In many spots, only a muddy river bed remained, clearly revealing dirt bike tracks and the footprints of birds.

The stream that flows south from the hills around Rathdrum Mountain went dry over the weekend when property owner Mike Leach dammed the creek so he could make a pond on his land just north of state Highway 53 off Winch Avenue.

After getting several phone calls from angry neighbors, like Brazill’s father Jay, the Idaho Department of Water Resources ordered Leach to crank open the dam gates to get the water flowing before more fish died.

“These fish will probably die here fairly quickly if something radical doesn’t happen,” Jay Brazill said while looking at a dozen brook trout stuck in a pool under a downed cedar log. Just then, his son spotted another dead fish.

“See, it’s by that rock,” Jason Brazill said, pointing.

Water Resources regional supervisor Bob Haynes said the department issued Leach a water rights permit in April to allow the dam. Leach plans to use the water to create a pond and irrigate about five acres of property just west of Rathdrum, Haynes said. Leach, who didn’t return phone calls, also wanted to generate some power from the dam. Haynes said he thought Leach would use the direct current to charge batteries.

“The primary concern with everyone I’ve talked to is to get the water back in the stream to aid the fish down below,” Haynes said after returning from looking at the dam and creek.

He expected the creek to start filling up by late afternoon and planned to send a department representative to Lost Creek today to make sure Leach did as promised.

The Kootenai Environmental Alliance initially opposed Leach’s request for water rights. But Haynes said the conservation group withdrew its protest after Leach agreed to always allow as much water to flow downstream as in the winter, which is about 225 gallons per minute. Haynes said about 20 to 40 gallons per minute were flowing Monday morning.

Haynes said he thought that condition was part of the official IDWR permit but realized Monday it wasn’t recorded that way. So Leach didn’t officially violate the state permit, but he did go against the agreement with KEA.

“At the very least, there is a breach of contract between him and KEA,” Haynes said.

KEA spokesman Barry Rosenberg wasn’t available for comment Monday.

Haynes said that once Leach’s pond is filled, water in the creek should increase. He doesn’t think any other property owners downstream have water rights on Lost Creek. The creek, which is a recharge source for the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, disappears into the ground just before it reaches Highway 53.

Brazill and some other neighbors also called the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and Fish and Game. Officials from both agencies said they were concerned, but that the water resources department was in charge of the investigation.

Haynes said the department has gotten several complaints about Leach in the past, but this is the only one where investigations have turned up a problem.

Lost Creek flows through the middle of Norm Waldo’s 260 acres where he wants to build 64 homes.

Waldo said he was aware that the creek was dry and that he understood more water was on its way. He declined to comment further.

A Kootenai County hearing examiner will have a public hearing Thursday on Waldo’s request to build Lost Creek Estates. This is the second go for the proposed housing development.

Several years ago Idaho Forest Industries proposed putting 184 homes on the land along with a 10 million gallon sewage lagoon. The Kootenai County Commission unanimously denied the request in 2002 after more than 150 neighbors argued the high-density subdivision would ruin their rural lifestyle. They also were worried about putting the sewage lagoon in the sensitive aquifer recharge area.

Waldo recently bought the property from Idaho Forest Industries and has said the new proposal emphasizes providing a “rural residential character.” Each of the proposed 64 homes in the new plan would have individual septic tanks and drain fields and share a community water system.