Forest Service temporarily closes Bunco Road

COEUR d’ALENE — The Idaho Panhandle National Forests is temporarily closing Bunco Road, a popular driving route east of Athol and Lake Pend Oreille, for public and contractor safety due to logging and truck hauling operations, according to a Tuesday press release.

The closure takes effect Wednesday.

The Forest Service is expecting up to 120 logging trucks per day using the narrow forest road. The road is temporarily closed to public driving as a safety measure to prevent accidents and congestion.

The route will only close on weekdays between 4 a.m. and 4 p.m., and will reopen by Oct. 10 for fall big game hunting. The closure includes an exemption for residents of Lakeview.

Logging operations are part of two timber sales — Lamb Chop, 11.4 million board feet, and Harry Potter, 9.9 million board feet — that will produce around 400,000 board feet of commercial timber per day for North Idaho timber companies, the release said.

According to the office of Idaho's lieutenant governor, this volume of timber will create or sustain around 600 industry jobs.