Logging
From the 1890s logging has played an important role at Priest Lake. Logs were floated down the lake, and eventually to the outlet where they would travel down the Priest River until they reached the mills on the Pend Oreille River. National concern over conservation of natural resources led to the Forest Reserve Act of 1891, under which the Priest River Forest Reserve was established in 1897. This forest reserve subsequently evolved into the Kaniksu National Forest - which has been recently incorporated into the Idaho Panhandle National Forests system. Most of the area on the east side of Priest Lake was gradually consolidated into State of Idaho lands beginning after Idaho's entry into statehood in 1890. In 1950 these state lands to the east of Priest Lake were designated as Priest Lake State Forest. Later, in the 1980s, the State executed land exchanges with private companies that added nearly 13,000 acres (53 km²) to the state forest and resulted in its present boundaries.
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