Osburn's Gene Day Pond

OSBURN — The Shoshone County Sportsmen's Association and numerous Idaho and Shoshone County agencies have developed a joint work plan to rehabilitate Osburn's Gene Day Pond into a fun fishing destination for families from the Silver Valley and elsewhere.

The pond, which is in the back of Gene Day Park just past the mining display, is currently overgrown and unkempt; however, Sportsmen's Association Treasure Larry Jennings, the lead planner for the project, said in the end, the park will be a pristine fishing destination.

The group plans to drain the pond and clean it, set up new gates by the railroad tracks to control the pond's water level, build two docks and stock it with rainbow trout from the Mullan fish hatchery.

Jennings said the joint work plan set up six objectives for the restoration project agreed upon by the stakeholders. The objectives that Jennings said will make this project a success are:

• Construct a fishing area that will support a seasonal, stocked fishery.

• Create a family friendly environment for fishing.

• Provide a contaminate-free area for recreational use.

• Ensure a functioning wetlands will exist for the foreseeable future.

• Establish native, desirable plant species in and around the pond

• All stakeholders support Gene Day Pond.

And Jennings said support has been high with the project’s 12 stakeholders — the Department of Environmental Quality, Fish and Game, Parks and Recreation, Land Management, Shoshone County, Osburn, CDA Trust, the EPA, the Transportation Department, the Panhandle Health Department, and the Basin Environmental Improvement Project Commission.

“[The government agencies] have been excellent to work with,” Jennings said. “The EPA and the DEQ are on board. Everyone seems very excited for the project and seeing it succeed.”

Though there is a joint work plan set for Gene Day Pond, Jennings said project is still in the planning stages and there is no official estimation on cost.

Of those plans, Jan Olsen of the DEQ said the Idaho Department of Fish and Game have a nice design planned for the pond and are doing much of the building for the pond's new look. Olsen said she's hopeful the park will be a success remnant of the recently renovated Steamboat Pond up the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.

“We want it to turn out as well as Steamboat pond,” Olsen said. “The way I envision it is a clean, fun fishing spot for families to bring their kids.”