Duck hunting ruffles feathers for Thompson Lake residents after regulations lifted
The area around Thompson Lake was a no-shooting zone until the regulation was lifted in 2023.
Courtesy of Idaho Fish and Game
HARRISON — When Norris Warner purchased his property on Thompson Lake in 1999, he was drawn in by the quiet of the lake and the surrounding wildlife preserve.
Up until now, there hasn’t been hunting in the area, but all of that changed recently.
“About three weeks ago, I woke up to gunshots, which is really weird,” Warner said.
After investigating, he found a large number of hunters by the lakeside and that all of the wildlife preserve signage had been removed.
After asking around, Warner and other residents reached out to Idaho Department of Fish and Game. They learned that the Thompson Lake waterfowl closure had been removed in the last few years.
“It's not just loss of serenity, it’s been a waterfowl refuge for years. It’s really quite sad,” Warner said.
He said he wishes there had been a warning for residents or a public hearing so that it wouldn’t come as a total surprise when hunters began moving through the area.
Even if the change has already been in effect, Warner is concerned that residents haven’t been able to understand the decision and raise concerns about how it affects their properties.
“I’m not anti-hunting, I'm anti-notification,” Warner said.
Fish and Game’s decision was made in 2020, as part of a review to find unnecessary limitations on hunters.
T.J. Ross, regional communications manager for Idaho Fish and Game, said the commission made a similar decision to open Myrtle Creek Preserve in Bonners Ferry to hunting, fishing and trapping in 2022. Prior to that, the area had been closed for 85 years.
Because of the timing of the decision, regional wildlife habitat manager Norm Merz said it was a “soft release” during COVID, so there wasn't outreach. The department usually makes announcements more publicly, but due to staffing changeover and issues stemming from the pandemic, there wasn’t a public process.
“It was just looked on as a restriction on hunter availability,” Merz said.
The department usually makes announcements more publicly, but due to staffing changeover and issues stemming from the pandemic, there wasn’t a public process.
Warner’s concerns also extend to the fact that Thompson Lake is one of the Coeur D' Alene chain lakes that are part of a federal EPA superfund site.
“You have a highly contaminated lake and have people walking through it and upsetting all of this silt,” Warner said. “I'd like to find out why somebody would decide this.”
Fish and Game noted that any recreation, whether it’s paddling a canoe or fishing stirs up sediment.
“Duck hunters are a very small segment that stirs up those sediments. Anything you do stirs up sediment and a spring flood is going to far outweigh any additional contamination,” Ross said.
Update: After initially stating there had been no public hearing about the lifting of the hunting closure on Thompson Lake, Fish and Game found in their records that the updated status of the lake was included in a public meeting in March 2021 in Nampa.