Activity on Lake Coeur d’Alene slows significantly after Labor Day.

Gone are the tourists from all over the world who stroll The Coeur d’Alene Resort boardwalk, hand in hand, surveying an array of expensive boats, coming and going. Gone are the shirtless teenage boys in low-riding pants who preen for sunbathing girls in bikinis on City Beach. Gone are Brook’s seaplane, the parasail and an assortment of water toys leased by sun-baked vendors for an hour at a time.

Gone also is the high summer water level as Avista begins lowering the lake to make room for spring runoff.

Now, the Hagadone Corp. is pushing a plan, in cooperation with power boaters, lakeshore owners and local government officials in Kootenai County, to keep the lake level at the summer high through September. The higher level would benefit Kootenai County’s tourism industry and people who want to enjoy the lake into North Idaho’s incredible Indian summers. The plan was presented to a group that met last week to make recommendations on lake management as part of the relicensing process for the Avista Utilities dam at Post Falls.

The Idaho coalition put together by Hagadone representative John Barlow and others is impressive. But it is only one of several competing interests that’ll be affected by the relicensing decision. A delayed drawdown, for example, could harm bull trout and wetlands and limit the amount of autumn fun for boaters below Post Falls Dam. Also, Hagadone’s request could mean higher power bills if Avista is forced to mitigate environmental problems caused by higher water in the fall.

As a result, the public is a large stakeholder in the future management of Post Falls Dam. The public’s best interests should be Avista’s main concern as it collects data to file for relicensing by the end of winter.

Avista has already spent $4 million studying the effects of dam operations and, already, mitigation costs are mounting. The costs will be passed along to consumers, according to Avista spokesman Hugh Imhoff.

The coalition headed by Hagadone didn’t receive a warm reception when it pitched the idea for a later drawdown to individuals who had been meeting for two years to discuss dam management. But the eleventh-hour proposal could serve to refocus the group of tribal officials, government scientists, property owners and water sports enthusiasts. The advisory group hasn’t made significant progress as time begins to run out on the discussion process. Unless the group quits squabbling and adopts recommendations, federal regulators could intervene and develop their own plan. Under that scenario, fewer stakeholders would be happy with the final result.

The proposal by the Hagadone group, on the other hand, would benefit many directly affected by the fall drawdown. Unless competing interests can produce a broader plan or cite fatal flaws in the new one, the Hagadone plan should receive careful review. It’s a good one.