Riverside Road Reopened the Same Week the Kootenai Refuge Hunt Did. Here's How Fall There Works Now.

Riverside Road through the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge has been under construction since March 30, with crews raising and widening it. The refuge now lists the road as open, with construction wrapping up. The waterfowl hunt opened on the same road on October 10 at 3 a.m. Duck migration peaks in early November, and the ponds are usually frozen by late November. That leaves the refuge's best fall weeks between now and the freeze, on a road whose rebuild is in its final stretch.

The end of the road work, a four-day hunt week and the peak of the wildlife calendar all fall within the same six weeks.

The Road That Used to Flood

Riverside Road belongs to Boundary County, but it runs straight through the refuge. Its main problem was elevation. Refuge manager Shannon Ehlers explained it to the Bonners Ferry Herald in April:

"Riverside Road, in its current state across the refuge, is in poor condition and sits lower than much of the surrounding land. As a result, unseasonable rain often causes the road to flood. By raising the road, the portion under construction will no longer be at risk of flooding."

Western Federal Lands, a division of the Federal Highway Administration, ran the project with Granite Construction as the contractor. Boundary County and the refuge were project partners. The current construction package rebuilds about 1.62 miles of roadway. The Federal Highway Administration's project description puts the width change in numbers. The road goes from 20 feet to 32 feet, with two 12-foot lanes and a 4-foot shoulder on each side for bicycles, pedestrians and ATVs.

Those shoulders matter most to people who walk or ride the refuge rather than drive it. The old road gave walkers and cyclists no room at the edge. The project design calls for 4 feet on each side.

The schedules don't quite match. In June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Riverside Road would stay closed through October 30. The federal construction newsletter lists a fixed completion date of November 9, 2026. The refuge's homepage is newer, and it says construction is wrapping up and that both Riverside Road and the auto-tour route are open. Finishing work could still run into early November. The refuge office answers at 208-267-3888, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The auto-tour route has one other change. A new automatic gate now stands at the exit, and it opens when a vehicle pulls up to it.

A Week That Runs on Two Schedules

The reopening matters more because the hunt started the same week. Kootenai's managed waterfowl hunt doesn't run every day. Hunters can use the units on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the waterfowl hunt units are closed to all entry. The auto-tour route keeps its own hours. It's open seven days a week during daylight, as conditions allow.

On hunt days, the units open at 3 a.m. and stay open until one hour after legal sunset. Sixteen blinds are available first-come, first-served, and hunters can also free-roam. Two accessible blinds can be reserved by calling or emailing the refuge at least 24 hours ahead. Hunters may launch non-motorized boats to reach the hunt areas. Hunters and anglers must park in the designated lots shown on the refuge map.

On weekends, the hunt and the rest of the refuge's visitors share the same mornings. Weekday visits on Monday, Wednesday or Friday fall on the days when the hunt units are closed.

Where the Trails and the Hunt Overlap

The Fish and Wildlife Service keeps hunting areas physically separate from the hiking trails and the auto-tour route, with one exception: Ole Humpback Trail. It sits inside the unit open for turkey, grouse and big game. That unit is the 173-acre forested upland west of Lion's Den Road, and hunting there follows Idaho's state seasons.

The refuge points out a few more places where the two overlap:

• Auto-tour route and Deep Creek Trail. A non-shooting retrieval zone runs along the west side of both. Hunters may carry unloaded firearms there to retrieve downed birds or to travel to and from the hunt areas.
• Hunt-unit boundaries. Signs reading "WATERFOWL HUNTING ONLY," "RETRIEVING ZONE ONLY" and "AREA BEYOND THIS SIGN CLOSED" mark where each use begins.
• Dogs in the field. Hunters may use dogs during the migratory bird, forest grouse and fall turkey seasons.
• Trail maps. The refuge warns that the trail map linked on its own website is inaccurate and shows some trails in closed areas. It points visitors to the corrected visitor use map or to refuge headquarters.

Myrtle Falls, the Owl Barn and the east parking area all line Riverside Road. During the closure, the Myrtle Falls trail stayed open from the picnic-area lot, while the roadside lots were closed.

The Next Six Weeks

The refuge covers 2,774 acres, and the Fish and Wildlife Service describes it as a sanctuary mainly for migrating waterfowl. The agency's seasonal guide shows how quickly fall moves there:

1. Now. Beavers, coyotes, mule deer and white-tailed deer may show up in the mornings and evenings. Osprey and shorebirds leave early in the season.
2. Early November. Duck migration peaks. Bald eagles arrive at about the same time to hunt sick or injured ducks.
3. Late November. The ponds freeze over, and the remaining waterfowl move to the open water of the Kootenai River while still feeding in the refuge's grain fields.
4. Into winter. A herd of 100 to 200 elk often comes down to the grain fields in the evening and heads back into the forest at first light. Rough-legged hawks hunt the uplands for mice.

eBird's hotspot page says spring and fall waterfowl migration can peak at 40,000 birds, and it lists tundra swans, Canada geese and many duck species among the birds commonly seen during migration.

The 4.5-mile auto-tour route is one-way gravel, and visitors can drive it, walk it or bike it. Cascade Pond, about 1.8 miles in, is where the refuge suggests looking for moose, otters and songbirds, especially during spring and fall migration.

The timing is tight. The duck peak and the eagles' arrival are expected in early November, while the contract's fixed completion date is November 9 and the ponds freeze by late November. That means the busiest open-water weeks this year overlap with the last stretch of the construction contract.

Saturday, October 17

The next Saturday works for both the refuge and town. The Bonners Ferry Herald community calendar lists an entry-level Refuge Ruck at the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge from 6 to 8:30 a.m. that morning. Saturday is also a hunt day, so ruck participants will share the early hours with hunters who could have entered the units as early as 3 a.m.

When the ruck ends, Bonners Ferry Rotary is serving a free community breakfast with a silent auction from 8 to 11 a.m. at VEC Hall at the Boundary County Fairgrounds. The ruck ends at 8:30, so participants can make the breakfast with time to spare.

Before heading out on Riverside Road, a call to refuge headquarters at 208-267-3888 will confirm the road and lot status while crews finish the last of the work.

If watching the Kootenai Valley through the seasons has you thinking about land near the refuge, Overland Reizen knows these Boundary County roads and acreage well, and we're glad to talk through what a property close to the refuge and the river offers. Discover Your North Idaho Lifestyle.