Sculpted by glaciers and scoured by Ice Age floods, Lake Pend Oreille is Idaho’s biggest and deepest lake. In tandem with private landowners and conservation partners like Avista and the US Navy, your Conservancy has protected many lush lands and cool clear streams around the lake. These include lands kept in private hands, a rustic camp that serves the youth of Bonner County, and land returned to the Kalispel Tribe. Some are highlighted here.
Located at Kilroy Bay, the Thad Peters conservation property is one of the largest undeveloped parcels on the lake’s eastern shore. And thanks to the Peters family and your Conservancy, it is now shielded from unwanted development forever. The property contains trees up to 150 years old as well as two small streams that cascade down its slopes, bringing cold, clear water to Lake Pend Oreille. Bordered by the Panhandle National Forest on two sides, the property buffers Schafer Peak and the Green Monarch mountains from nearby development. The Miller conservation property (see below) adjoins it.
This breath-taking property provides abundant natural wildlife habitat from elk and mountain goats to bald eagles and quaking aspens. Notably, 95% of north Idaho’s native plants and tree species are found within the property!
Visible from up and down the lake, this expanse of healthy forests and meadows is visible to thousands of people on and across the lake.
Read more here!Visible to all who are crossing north on the Long Bridge, the Pleass conservation property protects the Lake Pend Oreille watershed and also buffers the neighboring National Forest land and popular Mickinnick Trail on the flanks of the Greenhorn Mountain. The Pleass family not only donated the land for the Trail, but protected their home property, the scenic backdrop to Sandpoint, from sprawling development.
The slopes facing Lake Pend Oreille are invaluable wintering habitats for large migratory species such as moose, elk, and deer and miles of game trails connect the Pleass property with the national forest.
The Miller property forms a spectacular bench overlooking Kilroy Bay and Pine Cove on the east side of Lake Pend Oreille. It abuts conservation land on two sides, including the Peters property (78 acres) that the Conservancy protected five years ago and thousands of acres of national forest.
“The view from the Miller property is amazing,” says Chris Deforest, Senior Conservationist at INLC. “But even better are the views from the lake looking up at the property. It’s a beacon from up and down the lake. It would have been a shame to turn that beautiful vista into a bunch of houses.”
Nestled on the banks of Mirror Lake, which feeds into Lake Pend Oreille, kids and their families have enjoyed rustic camping at Camp Stidwell for the past 76 years.
Like the Miller property, Camp Stidwell is an island of privately-owned land surrounded by state and national forests. It was dedicated in 1947 by Sandpoint community members to serve as a rustic campground for local youth. The camp has a quarter mile of shoreline with several docks for swimming and fishing, and a network of nature trails.
Read more here!Inland Northwest Land Conservancy has long teamed up with the Kalispel Tribe (People of the Pend Oreille River) in north Idaho
