COEUR d'ALENE - The public is now getting an opportunity to help guide the use of $140 million in settlement funds to be spent on restoration projects in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin.

A group calling itself Restoration Partnership made up of representatives from state, tribal and federal wildlife and land management agencies anticipate the restoration projects beginning on the ground in 2015. It's separate from the work the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been doing cleaning up the basin from historic mining activities.

There are multiple options for restoration, so the partnership is seeking input as it develops a plan and prepares an Environmental Impact Statement.

That EIS will be done collaboratively by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, the U.S. Forest Service, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. Those agencies and the Tribe make up the Restoration Partnership.

"What we want to do is figure out what the public wants," said Caj Matheson, a spokesman for the partnership. "We'll combine that with what's technically feasible."

Gathering public input is part of the EIS process, Matheson said.

The funding comes from settlements with Hecla Mining Co., of Coeur d'Alene, and Asarco, currently based in Tucson, Ariz., and others responsible for natural resource degradation in the basin, he said.

Phillip Cernera, who represents the Tribe in the partnership, said, "We are beginning the planning process and we need input from the public to help us identify priority areas where we may be able to improve conditions for fish, wildlife, plants, wetlands, waterfowl and other natural resources here in the Coeur d'Alene Basin."

Chip Corsi, Idaho Department of Fish and Game's supervisor for the Panhandle region and the state of Idaho's representative in the partnership, said the restoration can provide jobs to the North Idaho community.

"Not only do we have a remarkable opportunity to do great things for fish, wildlife and other natural resources - as well as the people that enjoy them - but the potential economic impact natural resource restoration could have in our region is substantial," Corsi said in a press release Monday.

The partnership will collect input during a 60-day scoping phase running through Aug. 12.

Matheson said an interim restoration plan guided some work in the basin starting in 2007, which is now mostly complete. That work also was funded by settlement dollars, he said.

One of the larger projects was completed on the East Fork of Moon Creek, about four miles east of Kellogg and two miles north of Interstate 90. The Forest Service completed the cleanup of the abandoned 20-acre Silver Crescent Mine and Mill Complex and took the lead on the restoration phase.

Matheson described it as a "barren wasteland" when the work began, and the habitat was returned to a healthy, green state, benefiting fish, amphibians and big game.

"It benefited a lot of different wildlife, that's what we really liked about it," Matheson said.

There are public open house meetings today and Thursday where the public can learn more and provide input:

In Coeur d'Alene at 5:30-7:30 p.m. today at the Best Western Coeur d'Alene Inn.

In Worley at 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday at Rose Creek Longhouse.

Info: www.restorationpartnership.org