COEUR d’ALENE — A tidal wave of concerns has resulted from an increase in Spokane River traffic, erosion due to pounding wakes, and property owners installing illegal buoys to stave off the onslaught.

Ideas to break the vicious cycle are widespread, but one that caught momentum during a Kootenai County Commission meeting on Tuesday was increased law enforcement.

The county’s Parks and Waterways Advisory Board is recommending commissioners fund two additional seasonal marine patrol positions through the general fund.

“Through years of discussions we keep coming back to the same (point),” said John Condon, chairman of the advisory board. “Implementing more rules is ineffective if you don’t have the ability to enforce them.

“This is not only a property protection issue, it’s a safety issue. It’s by the grace of God that there have not been more deaths out there.”

While the commissioners did not take action on the advisory board’s recommendation, they appeared to be generally supportive of the proposal and recognized attendees’s concerns.

The Sheriff’s Office has three seasonal marine teams from Memorial Day through Labor Day. One is assigned to the river and the north end of Lake Coeur d’Alene, one on the south end of the lake and the other to all the other lakes.

“The idea of law enforcement is truly the answer,” said Doug Parker, a waterfront property owner in Post Falls, adding more rules are not necessary. “I have lived on the river for 50 years and it’s a mess.”

Commissioner Bob Bingham estimated bringing on another team focusing on the Spokane River would be between $40,000 and $42,000.

Ray Bradley, who has lived on the river for 30 years, said he’s lost about a foot and a half of property in the past five years due to the pounding waves.

“All my riprap (to protect the property) is also washing to the bottom of the river,” he said.

Sheriff’s Office Lt. Stu Miller said erosion has been so extensive in some areas there’s been damage behind seawalls.

While making the entire river a no-wake zone has been mentioned in discussions, all sides agree that drastic move would be devastating to property owners and others who use the system. So that idea has been dunked.

Wake surfing, a relatively new activity on the river, is being blamed for some of the increase in waves that have caused erosion, but Condon said it’s the totality of the increase in traffic that is the larger problem.

Bradley suggested requiring wake surfers to move to the lake, but some officials don’t believe singling out one activity would be wise.

Skip Allert, whose kids are wake surfers, said taking that activity to the lake is best.

“That way you’re not bothering anybody and you don’t have anyone hollering at you,” he said.

Heidi Hickok, who lives on the river and whose family enjoys wake surfing, said she was relieved to learn at the meeting that the activity is not being considered to be banned.

“It is not just the wake surf boats that put out the big waves,” she said, adding she supports increased law enforcement. “We have photos of my kids surfing and there will be another boat or jet ski 10 feet behind them.”

Jim Brady of the Idaho Department of Lands said 70 illegal buoys have been counted on the river. Their purpose of preventing damage by creating space around people’s property creates safety hazards on the river in the process.

“We believe illegal buoys are hazards to navigation,” he said. “They’re not aids to navigate. They’re trash.”

Those who do not have a permit for the buoys will be sent a postcard stating they’re illegal and need to be removed, Brady said.

Brady said IDL can’t remove the buoys without a court order.

“We’re told that they deserve their due process,” he said.

Boat and jet ski driver boneheads were also a theme during the meeting, as some don’t know or ignore river etiquette when it comes to driving patterns, adding to safety and erosion concerns, attendees said. It also rekindled the idea for mandatory boater education.

Dave Claycomb of the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation said mandatory boater education has been pitched to his department in recent years, but it hasn’t caught momentum at the Legislature.

“There’s not simple answers,” he said. “Let’s say it passes, so how would that be paid for? It’s a complex issue.”

Nick Snyder, the county’s Parks and Waterways director, offered another possible funding dilemma for leaders to consider. He said a recent boater survey revealed most prefer their boater registration dollars be spent on facilities such as docks and launches and not law enforcement.

Bingham said with the county’s growth rate, the river issue is only going to get worse.

“This has been going on a long time, so we do have to work on it,” he said.