Fundraising is off to a good start
SANDPOINT — The Friends of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail are off to a good start. As the group galvanizes to raise funds for the fourth parcel of the trail, scheduled for three years down the road, its efforts have already yielded more than $40,000 in donations. Meanwhile, members are preparing for the first year of major fundraising activities.Read the full article in the Bonner County Daily Bee...

Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail Concept Plan Wins State Award
SANDPOINT — A communitywide effort to create a vision for a shoreline trail connecting the communities of Sandpoint, Ponderay and Kootenai was recently awarded a Planning Excellence Award for Best Practice by the Idaho Chapter of the American Planning Association.
The Friends of the Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail, the cities, Bonner County, Idaho Conservation League and many other community partners collaborated on the two-year planning effort that was guided by the National Park Service's Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program.
More than 100 individuals, organizations and businesses contributed to the development of the plan, not including the public feedback through surveys and public meetings.
The result was the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail Concept Plan, which is helping guide the creation of a non-motorized shoreline trail with nearly a mile of waterfront access in the heart of Bonner County. The Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail would stretch from Sandpoint through Ponderay, and into Kootenai, much of which would be along the Lake Pend Oreille shoreline.
The plan was recognized recently by the state society of planning professionals as demonstrating a significant achievement for a community in accomplishing positive changes as a result of planning. 
“This plan is a model for public involvement and cooperation between jurisdictions in a long-range regional planning process,” said Lisa Ailport AICP, a land use planner with Ruen Yeager and Associates and a member of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail planning committee.
“The most important result is a shared vision that serves as an enduring guide for bringing the trail into public hands,” she added.
The three adjoining cities and the county endorsed the plan by formal resolution last year.
One of the key tasks in carrying out the plan is acquisition of private property within the trail corridor. The city of Sandpoint took the first step this fall by purchasing one of the last parcels of undeveloped waterfront in the city. That purchase was the first of four parcels to be purchased over the next three years by Sandpoint and Ponderay. The purchase has opened up nearly a mile of shoreline to the public, but permanent access depends on future acquisitions.
The Friends of the Pend d’Oreille Bay Trail, a local non-profit organization formed to support the implementation of the plan, has committed to raise the $370,000 needed to purchase the fourth parcel, with 1,600 feet of waterfront, in 2014 for the City of Ponderay.
To learn more about future acquisitions and how you can help, please consider attending a special Sip 'n Shop Celebration with the Friends of the Pend d'Oreille Bay Trail and Idaho Conservation League Tuesday, Nov. 29, at the Pend d'Oreille Winery, in Sandpoint; or visit www.pobtrail.org, for more information.

Sandpoint approves initial trail purchase
Meeting in special session Sept. 20, 2011, the Sandpoint City Council gave final approval for the initial purchase of property as part of a four-year, multi-group plan to acquire the entire trail right of way. Read some of the recent media reporting about this exciting development!

• Bonner Daily Bee: Sandpoint Council approves trail funding
  
• Spokesman-Review: Mile of shore may go to public use
  
• KXLY TV: Groups work to open lakefront property
  
• Bonner Daily Bee: City mulls trail property purchase