Imagine a moment in time nearly 200 years ago.  You’re far from any civilization you’ve ever known.  You’re seated, alone, in a hand-hewn wooden canoe, paddling along the shores of a huge lake, yet unnamed and yet unsettled except for its indigenous people, who’ve inhabited the area for thousands of years, leaving little evidence of their presence.
 

You pause from paddling and gaze deep into the water.  As the ripples subside, you can see the bottom, crystal clear with only sharp rocks jutting toward you and hundreds of clearly defined native fish darting every direction in their representative schools. As far as you can tell, you may be one of the first outside visitors to view this lake and its magnificent surrounding mountains.  As you continue to paddle, totally in awe of the beauty and the simplicity of this heavenly sight, you feel a sense of peace in this natural, unspoiled setting.

This scene could easily resemble what British explorer/mapmaker David Thompson experienced when he visited and established a fur-trading post, called Kullyspell House, on what’s now known as Lake Pend Oreille in September, 1809. 

Now, let’s leave that time warp and paddle forward through time in our fiberglass kayak to that same setting nearly 200 years later. Where David Thompson once eyed dense forests of old-growth timber extending clear to the shoreline, we now see these groves interrupted with a vast assortment of homes and their accompanying structures.  We see restaurants, resorts, marinas and docks surrounded by hundreds of noisy gas-powered boats or personal watercraft.  Along the shoreline, diesel-powered train engines pull hundreds of freight cars over miles of iron tracks set on creosote-treated railroad ties. Just above the train bed, we can see and hear a steady stream of gas or diesel-powered cars and semis zipping east or west over asphalt roadways.

Where Thompson may have gazed deep into the lake’s waters in 1809, today we might be lucky to spot a fish or to see those rocks on the bottom.  Instead, if our paddle hasn’t already caught hold of it, we need not look too far to see endless webs of stringy milfoil rising to the surface and, through its spreading growth, choking out native aquatic plants that are so essential to healthy fish habitat.

Quite a change from the quiet time of David Thompson’s visit to this undisturbed setting, and quite a dramatic change considering our settlement here represents merely a blip on Lake Pend Oreille’s 10,000-year-old timeline.  In recent decades--unlike the handful of French fur traders who came with David Thompson, stayed briefly and then moved on--  the lake has been discovered by thousands wishing to make a home here. As the population around Lake Pend Oreille continues to grow, so do outside forces that threaten its wellbeing and pose potential hazards to our lake and drinking water.   These threats come in several forms:  improper disposal of household materials and waste products, uncontrolled runoff, poor landscape planning, improper logging, burning on the shoreline, and failing septic systems. 

Granted, we can’t turn the clock back.  Moreover, we cannot and will not all just move away from this beautiful place to halt this continued degradation of the Lake Pend Oreille watershed.  Such expectations are both unreasonable and unrealistic.  Over the decades, however, we must recognize that one entity at a time slowly contributed to the lake’s demise through thoughtlessness, lack of education about how the natural world works, or even through personal recklessness.  

Through a proactive voluntary approach, however, we can make great strides in reversing those behaviors and their subsequent threat to our lake’s well being.  We can do so one step at a time, one person at a time, and one day at a time.  We can master this challenge through a continued, thoughtful approach to how we care for the lake and the land around it.  We can accomplish this turnaround through education, self assessment and action.  With a united front, we can also achieve these lofty, important goals through ongoing individual commitments aimed at nurturing our lake and its surrounding shoreline with the utmost of tender, loving care.

That’s where Lake *A*Syst comes in.  This Lake*A*Syst manual could be considered your natural resources Bible as well as your personal Lake Pend Oreille insurance policy.   Here’s how it works.  This voluntary program encourages us first to learn about home, land and water-management practices posing threats to our water quality.  Next, we assess our individual performance in each of the nine areas that impact the Lake Pend Oreille Watershed.    Once we’ve pinpointed problems, we develop a management plan whereby we can gradually correct the problems. We then follow up on these procedures through continued review of our management practices.  If the Lake*A*Syst manual does not provide the answers, it provides contact numbers of experts who can.

Those of us who live, work and play around the Lake Pend Oreille shoreline come from all walks of life and from all parts of the Globe.  We bring with us diverse political persuasions and philosophical beliefs.  We also represent different cultures, different socioeconomic levels, different interests and a vast array of life experiences.  We tend to be fiercely independent and enthusiastically vocal when expressing our views.

Nonetheless, it would be safe to suggest that one common denominator unites us all:  a deep love for Lake Pend Oreille and its magnificent surroundings.  Through Lake*A*Syst, we can thrust the same energy, which often divides us, toward a universal commitment of protecting the lake by studying, remembering, and practicing the suggestions on the pages ahead.

Whether we’re recent transplants or longtime residents, young or old, let’s all be good stewards of the lake and its surrounding lands.  Let’s also leave our legacy by following the Native American tradition of passing along these important guidelines of stewardship to newcomers moving to our area and to each succeeding generation.   

Finally, let us take to heart the principles in this book and remember to leave the lake and its surrounding area better than we found it.  Counsel from David Thompson to each of us in regard to Lake Pend Oreille might be,

“Enjoy it.  Respect it.  Protect it.  Appreciate it.  Nurture it.  Share it.  Learn its story.”

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