Description
Visitors walking the trails of Cougar Bay, located on the west side of Lake Coeur d'Alene, enjoy the splendor one of Idaho’s most beautiful mountain lakes. The rich wetland habitat of Cougar Bay provides an abundance of wildlife watching opportunities from birds to moose.
Bordered by towering conifer forests and lush meadows, Cougar Bay attracts migrating and nesting waterfowl, numerous shorebirds, songbirds, moose, beaver, otter and deer. Thirty-four rare animal species are known to utilize the site, including 27 species of birds.
In 2021, after years of co-management, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) acquired this sensitive lakefront habitat from The Nature Conservancy. This next step in TNC's partnership with BLM ensures Cougar Bay will remain undeveloped while continuing to offer recreational opportunities for the community.
Since the transfer, the BLM has partnered with Ducks Unlimited on a restoration project to rehabilitate the Cougar Creek wetlands area that was significantly degraded by past farming operations. These wetlands provide critical habitat for a variety of wildlife, migratory waterfowl and nesting birds.
The first phase of the project has returned the wetlands to a more natural state and added new creek channels and ponds adjacent to Lake Coeur d’Alene to enhance aquatic habitat and fish passage. The second phase of the project is a multi-year planting effort to stabilize new floodplains and improve habitat. The BLM is working with the USDA Forest Service’s native plant nursery and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe to source riparian species, such as willow and dogwood, to plant at the site.