Lake Cascade’s first commercial marina with seasonal boat slips and on-water fueling service is expected to open for the 2026 boating season.
Last week Tamarack Resort announced it is beginning construction on a marina in the Poison Creek Unit of Lake Cascade State Park, which is just south of the main entrance to the resort on West Mountain Road.
The marina will include 100 seasonal boat slips, a retail and rental cabana, and a snack bar, under plans approved by the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, which solicited proposals for a Lake Cascade marina in 2021.
A sand volleyball court, improved sandy beaches, and a dedicated swimming area in Lake Cascade will also be added to the park as part of the marina project. A 12,000-gallon onshore tank will supply fuel pumps installed on docks for on-water fueling.
Poison Creek Campground, as well as the boat ramp, will close on Oct. 1. However, each will re-open once ice fishing starts, according to IDPR.
The Marina at Tamarack, at it is known by the resort, is set to become the first commercial marina on Lake Cascade once it opens in 2026. The resort is currently targeting Memorial Day Weekend as the grand opening of the marina.
The state also received a proposal for a commercial marina at the Van Wyck Boat Ramp in response to the 2021 request for proposals. That proposal was later withdrawn, an IDPR spokesperson told Valley Lookout.
20-year lease agreement
Tamarack is operating the marina under a 20-year lease agreement with the state’s parks and recreation department, which will receive 8% of all sales generated by the new amenities.
The lease allows the marina to operate from 7 a.m. to dusk from May 10 through Oct. 1. Concessions may also be offered during the winter with clearance from the state.
Tamarack expects to release more details on the seasonal boat slip rentals later this fall.
If demand exceeds the 100 boat slips available in the marina, Tamarack must develop a rental rotation process to “give equal opportunity for rental to every interested vessel owner,” under the lease agreement.
The marina project will also add 150 parking spaces to a parking area at Poison Creek that currently includes 30 trailer stalls, 37 regular parking spaces, and three handicapped spaces.
Scaled back plans
The marina project was originally envisioned by Tamarack as “up to 200 boat slips,” compared to the 100 slips now planned.
Tamarack President Scott Turlington said that was a decision made internally by the resort and not a result of environmental reviews of the project.
“Logistically it made more sense for us to start here,” Turlington said.
Tamarack’s plans for the marina were approved by the state in 2023, when the lease agreement was signed, but the resort still needed environmental clearance from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation before construction could begin.
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The federal agency greenlighted the project earlier this month, but the environmental report it completed has not yet been released.
“The Environmental Assessment is currently undergoing final internal review and accessibility compliance checks,” said Marc Ayalin, a spokesperson for the bureau. “Once these steps are complete, the document will be ready for public release.”
Long-awaited project
Turlington said the marina project marks the realization of a concept that can be traced back nearly four decades.
“Of all our assets, the mountain may be the most iconic, and the golf course may be the most refined, but the lake has always been the most elusive,” he said. “And now, finally, it is happening.”
Turlington chronicled the project’s long and winding history in the September edition of the resort’s monthly real estate magazine.
A Lake Cascade marina anchored by a ski resort was first envisioned in the 1980s as part of the ValBois proposal, which marked the first iteration of a project that eventually became Tamarack.
Initial concepts for ValBois called for a 250-slip marina, a five-story hotel fronting Lake Cascade, lakefront residential development, and a tennis complex, among other amenities.
Various marina concepts were included in multiple iterations of the project that followed, including a 40-slip marina that was planned when development began on Tamarack in 2003.
Work on Tamarack stalled in 2008 amid the Great Recession, however, and the marina was not built.
Tamarack’s current owners, MMG Equity Partners of Miami, Florida, named the marina a “strategic priority” upon purchasing the resort in 2019, according to Turlington.
