Shoshone County holds onto a rare St. Joe River public access point after community outcry

click to enlarge Shoshone County holds onto a rare St. Joe River public access point after community outcry
The beauty of the St. Joe River in North Idaho is attracting more recreation users than ever.

Even as the first weekend of April brought snow and hail to parts of the St. Joe River in North Idaho, anglers braved the somewhat warmer temperatures Sunday, April 3, to cast for cutthroat trout. A few floated the river in rafts on the gray overcast day, while others found pullouts along the river where they could wade into the icy, crystal clear waters.

Come summertime, the river booms with people on rafts and inner tubes, floating the body of water that stretches from the Bitterroots to Lake Coeur d'Alene.

But as much as the public enjoys boating and fishing along the river, there are few public access points where people can get their boats in and out of the water. Recently, one of the few logical places to start a float trip was at risk of being closed to public access.

The Buell Brothers, who own land on the east side of Big Creek, asked the Shoshone County Commission to vacate a strip of land that includes a gravel ramp from Potlatch Road down to the west side of the creek. Jack Buell, who retired in 2021 after serving as a county commissioner in neighboring Benewah County for nearly 50 years, owns large swaths of land along the river corridor and has employed many in the area for years through his timber business.

In recent years, the Buells also obtained a strip of riverfront land on the west side of Big Creek through a legal process claiming that accretion from the river had added to their land. That made the Shoshone County ramp the only piece touching the mouth of Big Creek that they didn't have a claim on.

During a March 24 public hearing before the Shoshone commissioners in Wallace, the Buells were represented by Tri-State Consulting Engineers' Steve Syrcle and attorney Susan Weeks. The two tried to make the case that people had abused the access point by camping, littering and trespassing on Buell property on either side of the creek.

Weeks argued that the county could continue using the ramp to get water from the creek to keep dust down on Potlatch Road by simply making that a condition of the abandonment. That way the public access could be blocked off, but the public benefit of road maintenance would remain.

She argued that the public does not actually have access to the Joe there to begin with.

"The area you are being asked to vacate and abandon does not touch any of the public waters of the St. Joe," Weeks told the commissioners.

She and Syrcle argued that Big Creek is not a navigable water that should be accessible to the public. Idaho's Department of Lands does not include the creeks along the St. Joe on its list of navigable waters there, but Idaho state law notes that any stream that can float a log six inches in diameter during high water is navigable and shall be open to public use. The law does not permit crossing private land to access that public waterway, however.

About two dozen members of the public, many of whom own property near the Joe, told the commissioners that the mouth of Big Creek is one of only a handful of places along nearly 50 miles of river where people who don't own riverfront land can get in the water. Abandoning the county-owned ramp would not be in the public's interest, they argued.

"I have a problem with what's going on with this," public commenter Robert Archer told the commissioners, "because globally up and down the river corridors, sportsmen and people that want to recreate are losing access at a tremendous rate. I think if you let this through, it's going to set a very dangerous precedent."

Weeks argued that for years the Buells did not have an issue with people accessing the creek or river through their property, until people started to demand that access and disrespect the portions of land that are privately owned.

Ultimately, the three commissioners, Mike Fitzgerald, Jay Huber and John Hansen, voted to maintain the property, rejecting the request to give it to the Buells.

But while the vote felt like a victory for many who attended, some worry that this is just the beginning for those who want to ensure that recreational opportunities remain available for years to come.

"Even though it went our way, I don't think our fight is over," says Tracie Swanson, whose family owns land just a few properties away from Big Creek. "I feel like we have to continue to be watchdogs."

click to enlarge Shoshone County holds onto a rare St. Joe River public access point after community outcry
Samantha Wohlfeil photo
This access to Big Creek is one of the few spots for floaters to get on the St. Joe River.

ACCESS MAINTAINED — FOR NOW

Before their vote on March 24, the commissioners each explained that they were not convinced it was in the public interest to abandon the Big Creek property.

"The benefit the county would gain from it is not there if we were to give it away," Commissioner Hansen said.

With the overwhelming support for public access from the crowd, Commissioner Huber said he supported maintaining the land in county ownership.

Commissioner Fitzgerald also reiterated that the county was not obligated to hand over the land.

"There's quite a history of public use of the area. The right of way provides, whether it be a convenience or attractive nuisance, people's ability to recreate and use the waterway," Fitzgerald said. "I do want to recognize though, and we all know this living in this area, it's a beautiful area, but not everyone who recreates or uses properties are respectful."

In recent years, North Idaho's real estate market has boomed with people moving in from other parts of the country. With that growth, and the added cabin fever of the pandemic, the area's wealth of recreational opportunities have also seen a spike in use, with people exploring the region's majestic lakes, snowy mountains and forested hiking trails.

The panhandle's rivers are no exception.

"The right of way provides, whether it be a convenience or attractive nuisance, people's ability to recreate and use the waterway."

tweet this Tweet This

But rather than gripe about the public accessing the St. Joe, residents drove nearly 100 miles around the mountains for the March 24 public hearing to tell their elected officials to maintain public access for all.

"All these people that you see on the Joe, it's because they know someone that lives there or they use these four or five egress points to get on the Joe," Patrice Pfeiffer tells the Inlander in a phone call after the meeting.

Pfeiffer and other public commenters pointed out that a popular float, from Big Creek to Calder, where there's a store and a logical place to get out, takes four to five hours in the summer. If Big Creek access were removed, the next closest access point at Marble Creek would make the float nearly twice as long and untenable for most people.

Pfeiffer, who lives in Calder and whose son and grandchildren enjoy access to the river, was happy the commissioners opted to hold onto the Big Creek access.

"I was elated, I just felt that our voices were heard," Pfeiffer says.

But she questions other land decisions that have come before the commissioners in recent years, and may come to them in the future.

Several public commenters told the commissioners they were concerned about public notification for those types of decisions. For the Big Creek decision, few owners along the river were notified of the request to vacate the ramp.

Swanson, whose family property is a few lots east of the Buells' land near Big Creek, tells the Inlander that she and other landowners more than 300 feet away from the creek were not mailed notices about the decision that could potentially impact them. Notice was published in the Shoshone News-Press, but people who live there are more likely to subscribe to the St. Maries Gazette Record, she says, noting that even a poster near the site might have gotten more attention.

"It's unfortunate we have to do all this investigation on our own and that we're not informed as interested parties when they're making decisions on our public waterways," Swanson says.

She and others plan to keep paying close attention now that they're aware these types of requests may come before the county again.

"Idaho is unique in that we believe in our rights to our public lands," Swanson says. "I want us to be good stewards of our land in the sense of pack it in, pack it out, of not trespassing, but also maintaining our public waterways and public access to land that is mine and yours."♦

Mark as Favorite

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe @ TAC at the Lake

Sat., Feb. 15, 2 & 7 p.m., Sun., Feb. 16, 2 p.m., Thu., Feb. 20, 7 p.m., Fri., Feb. 21, 7 p.m., Sat., Feb. 22, 2 & 7 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 23, 2 p.m.
  • or

Samantha Wohlfeil

Samantha Wohlfeil is the Inlander's News Editor, a role she moved into in April 2024 after working at the paper as a news writer since 2017. She oversees the paper's news section and leads annual special sections, from our Sustainability Issue to our philanthropy issue known as Give Guide. As time allows, she...