Testing the limits at Hauser Lake

HAUSER LAKE, Idaho – Once a month, Harry Lien lowers a container to the bottom of this small North Idaho lake to collect a water sample.

Lien has spent a good part of his 61 years fishing for trout on Hauser, but lately the trout fishing has begun to stink. So does water pulled from the bottom of the lake.

“You can put that water sample anywhere in the boat and just smell it,” said Lien, of Post Falls.

Samples are showing there’s no more dissolved oxygen at the bottom of the lake. No more trout, either. The lake’s dying, Lien said.

Lien and some residents in the lakeside community of Hauser are now working to reverse the situation. But they worry that a proposed real estate development could further add to the lake’s trouble. The proposal calls for 49 upscale homes to be built on a ridge above the lake. The developer says extra efforts are being made to protect the environment, but Lien worries that the lake has already reached its limit.

“Everything rolls downhill into the lake,” Lien explained.

Water bodies across North Idaho are experiencing mounting development and declining water quality, but at only 625 acres, Hauser’s small size means it is less able to withstand the same pressures faced by Hayden, Pend Oreille and Coeur d’Alene lakes. Hauser could be a preview of what’s to come, Lien said.

Its shimmering blue waters are increasingly murky and weed-filled. Shoreline forests of fir and ponderosa are being replaced by mansions and lawns.

Members of the Hauser Lake Watershed Coalition recently filed a protest with the State of Idaho to prevent the new development above Hauser from drawing up to 387,000 gallons of lake water per day for lawn irrigation. Withdrawing that much water would be “excessive and wasteful” and also threatens to cut into the supply of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Aquifer, according to the five-page protest letter.

The protest was filed with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, which is in charge of issuing permits for withdrawing surface or groundwater. If a settlement can’t be reached between the developer and the Hauser Lake Watershed Coalition, the agency will hold a hearing and issue a decision on the matter, said Bob Haynes, the department’s regional manager. Haynes said that before issuing any permit the agency must make sure there are sufficient water resources and that the permit applicant’s proposal will not deny water to other users.

Developer Brent Lockhart insisted his plans will not harm the lake and that he has a vested interest in ensuring the lake remains picture perfect. The site sits on 63 acres on the east side of Hauser Lake, directly above Chef in the Forest restaurant.

“I probably have more concerns than anybody,” Lockhart said on a recent morning as he offered a tour of the proposed Edgewood development. The project includes 16 acres of open space. Only two of the lots are actually on the water.

If the city planning board approves the project – the board is expected to vote on the development during a public meeting in September – Lockhart hopes to break ground in spring. Houses in the development will be priced from $400,000 to $700,000. All but a few will have views of the lake.

People are hungry for what Hauser has to offer, Lockhart said. It’s a picture-perfect setting smack-dab between Coeur d’Alene and Spokane. “My Realtors are telling me ‘Give me four months and they’ll be sold off,’ ” Lockhart said.

Lockhart is aware of the concerns that the lake is being loved to death. He contends that development is among the least of the lake’s concerns. A 2000 study by the State of Idaho showed that stormwater runoff and septic systems were responsible for only about 13 percent of the harmful phosphorous that’s trickling into the lake, robbing the water of its dissolved oxygen and fueling an explosion in weeds. About half the phosphorous flows in from Hauser Creek.

“The effects of development and growth are very small in comparison,” Lockhart said.

Lockhart also points to the city of Hauser’s development codes, which are considered among the most strict in Idaho – that’s part of the reason Lockhart invested in the area’s property, he said. “The residents of Hauser should feel blessed that they have this code. It’s protecting the lake.”

As for the 387,000 gallons of water per day that his development could draw from the lake between March and November, Lockhart said that is merely the maximum amount. Typically, less than 100,000 gallons would be sucked up for lawns. Even at the highest amount – and without any additional rain or creek flow into the lake – the lake would drop by about 2 inches during the course of a season. As for stormwater runoff, grassy swales will be scattered throughout the development to act as filters.

“The community is protected,” Lockhart said. “They can just relax.”

Lockhart is responsible for another development on the lake: Waterford Estates. Hauser city officials say he has followed or exceeded all the rules with the development. In fact, he donated 34 acres of wetlands to the city and built a small trail network.

Lockhart might be following the rules, but the rules don’t seem to be protecting Hauser Lake, said John Wallis, a member of the Hauser Lake Watershed Coalition. Wallis also gathers water samples from creeks flowing into Hauser Lake.

Over the course of hundreds or thousands of years, lakes fill in with sediment. Small lakes become swamps and, eventually, forest. This process is on fast-forward at Hauser because of years of logging, farming, lawn fertilizers, failed septic tanks and even rainwater running off roofs, Wallis said. Nourished by new layers of rich mud, weeds are beginning to choke portions of Hauser’s shoreline. Somehow, the inflow of sediments and nutrients needs to be slowed.

Wallis said he’s not an expert on limnology – the science of lakes – but he and his fellow “vigilante volunteers” are trying to learn as much as they can about the complicated chemical reactions behind the changes now taking place on their lake. The same goes for Lien. He grew up fishing on Hauser Lake and camping in the surrounding forest. About two years ago, it became almost impossible to catch a trout while fishing from shore. Lien, who is 61, became angry and helped launch the watershed coalition.

“It was a good fishery for the old guys, guys who didn’t have boats, guys crippled up,” he said. “They’d just pull off the road there and fish. They didn’t have to hike. They didn’t have to load a boat.”

Wallis said he and many of his neighbors have stopped using fertilizers and are searching for other ways to make sure their own lifestyles don’t further add to the lake’s troubles. Efforts are under way to restore the health of the creeks and the watershed surrounding Hauser. By next year, members of the Hauser Lake Watershed Coalition hope to begin offering custom-tailored assessments to help others on the lake minimize their impacts. The effort is part of a national voluntary pollution reduction program called Lake-A-Syst.

But Wallis worries that the baby steps forward could be erased by the new development. He says he’s not sure the lake can handle 49 more homes and lawns or even a 2 percent reduction in water supply. “We don’t want it to be a tragedy here; we want to leave a legacy,” Wallis said.

Idaho law requires the lake be maintained as a coldwater fishery. That means trout, which need an abundance of oxygen-rich water. Wallis said he and others are hoping the state will step in and demand that no further harm be done to the lake. “We just need somebody from the State of Idaho to help us out here,” he said.

In past years, Hauser’s trout weathered the heat of summer by heading toward the lower depths of the lake. According to recent water samples, the lake bottom is still blanketed by cool water, but it’s completely devoid of dissolved oxygen. This has hurt the trout and put the lake in “clear violation” of state law, said Glen Rothrock, watershed manager with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

But apart from begging and pleading, the state doesn’t appear to have the authority to restrict development or prevent practices that add nutrients to the lake, Rothrock said. “We can’t really stop it. … As far as the state goes, it’s pretty much a voluntary basis.”

Transforming 63 acres of forest into a development is sure to add additional nutrients to the lake, Rothrock said. Even the best development is not as good as a forest. Rothrock also noted that higher-end subdivisions tend to like golf course-like lawns, which require ample amounts of fertilizer and water.

The state is trying to address similar problems on lakes, rivers and streams across North Idaho as it develops court-ordered plans to reduce pollution. There are no easy answers, Rothrock said. Education and tough city ordinances are probably the best hope now for protecting lakes.

One bright spot for Hauser Lake, however, is a project under way now to restore 27 acres of wetlands. The land is owned by Ray LaBoure, a disabled veteran, who once used the ground to grow hay. LaBoure is working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service on the project.

“It’s time for someone to give back to the lake,” he said.

The restored wetlands, which will include native plants and even large chunks of tree roots suitable for duck nests, will be protected from development by a permanent trust. LaBoure said he is increasingly worried that the lake he loves won’t be there for the next generation. He hopes his example might help spur Lockhart or other prospective developers to give something back to the lake, such as purchasing a piece of equipment to help aerate the lake or paying for a treatment to reduce the impacts of the nutrients.

“Hauser just can’t handle it anymore,” LaBoure said.