Living Lake Project
Artist Fellowship

The Living Lake Project adapts proven models of creative environmental stewardship to:

• Make complex environmental data accessible through artistic interpretation

• Build bridges between traditional ecological knowledge, Indigenous wisdom, and Western science

• Create culturally relevant engagement opportunities that inspire action

• Develop ongoing channels for community input and participation

• Document community stories and connections to the lake

• Generate collaborative solutions across jurisdictions and stakeholders

What we hope to achieve with this project overall: 

• Enlivening, animating, revitalizing, and bringing attention to our shared watershed, lake, and problems affecting the lake 

• Raising awareness of issues facing Coeur d’Alene Lake and our shared watershed

• Fostering connection and interaction across generations, cultures, issues, geography, etc. 

• Building participation in a serious public health issue

• Collaborating with new or existing partners or communities

• Bringing new art into the world that informs, inspires, and educates 

Projects may include (but are not limited to):

• Collaborative works with environmental experts that visualize or interpret lake data

• Mobile or site‑specific exhibitions

• Performances, festivals, or public gatherings

• Youth or intergenerational education programs

• Community storytelling or documentation projects

Examples of environmental art practices that inspired this fellowship can be found in The Art of Environmental Stewardship by Springboard for the Arts:https://springboardforthearts.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Springboard-for-the-Arts-The-Art-of-Environmental-Stewardship-2024.pdf

Coeur d’Alene Lake, located in Idaho’s Panhandle, has long been a hub for recreation, tourism, and economic activity. The area is also home to historical mining activity, and millions of tons of metals-laden sediments (e.g., zinc, lead, and cadmium) are present in the lake bottom. Recent land uses continue to contribute to excess nutrient loading, especially phosphorus. Elevated phosphorus levels can affect the chemistry in deep water near the lakebed where these heavy metals are contained. The change in chemistry could lead to low oxygen levels that unlock these metals and release them into the environment.

Although water quality in the lake has improved over the last several decades, phosphorus levels have been increasing. Managing phosphorus levels is critical to protecting the health of Coeur d’Alene Lake. In 2021, Governor Little established the Coeur d’Alene Lake Advisory Committee and directed $2 million in Leading Idaho funds for projects that reduce phosphorus and improve water quality in Coeur d’Alene Lake. The following year, Idaho directed an additional $35 million from the American Rescue Plan Act funds to further the Leading Idaho effort.

The Coeur d’Alene Lake Advisory Committee solicited project proposals in August 2021 and recommended funding for 19 cleanup projects. DEQ is currently working with funding recipients to implement these projects, which will take place through 2026.

DEQ’s Coeur d’Alene Lake Advisory Committee storymap provides more information about ongoing cleanup projects.  

Learn more on the Idaho DEQ’s website here: https://www.deq.idaho.gov/leading-idaho-and-the-coeur-dalene-lake/

The Silver Valley is one of the oldest and largest mining and smelting communities in the country. Mining began in the mid to early 1880s with cleanup starting nearly 100 years later in what is now known as the Bunker Hill/Coeur d’Alene Basin Superfund Site.

The Bunker Hill Superfund Site in North Idaho lies upstream within the Coeur d’Alene Lake watershed. Decades of mining and milling operations released contaminated waste into the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River, resulting in the accumulation of nearly 80 million metric tons of metals in the lake’s sediments. The site spans 166 river miles (including Coeur d’Alene Lake) across northern Idaho and eastern Washington and covers roughly 1,500 square miles, making it one of the largest Superfund sites in the nation.

The Bunker Hill Superfund site reflects over a century of intensive mining and smelting in the Silver Valley, where more than 60 million tons of metal-contaminated tailings and over 100 million tons of mine waste—including 2.4 billion pounds of lead—were released into rivers, floodplains, and surrounding lands. These operations left an area of more than 15,000 acres with lead levels toxic to wildlife and widespread contamination of residential soil. The Bunker Hill Smelter was also the source of the worst childhood lead-poisoning event in U.S. history after a 1973 baghouse fire led to months of unfiltered smelter emissions. By 1974, nearly all tested children had elevated blood lead levels, prompting urgent public-health intervention and ultimately contributing to the site’s federal Superfund designation.

The EPA—working with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, tribal partners, and work trust partners—manages the Bunker Hill Superfund Site through three operable units. Because contamination is extensive and often deeply embedded, cleanup relies on strategies such as partial soil removal, placement of clean barrier layers, containment systems, water treatment, secure waste repositories, flood-control improvements, and institutional controls designed to maintain protective barriers and manage long-term risks.

Visit the Bunker Hill/Coeur d’Alene Basin Superfund Site website to learn more about limiting exposure and keeping your family healthy. Keep Clean, Eat Clean, Play Clean!

https://www.deq.idaho.gov/waste-management-and-remediation/mining-in-idaho/play-clean-in-the-coeur-dalene-basin/