The stream continues out of Lake Coeur d'Alene as the Spokane River.

Salmon levels continue to remain high in the area[citation needed], and it is a popular destination for water-skiing, tubing, and swimming for locals.

All of the real bodies of water in the film Dante's Peak were either the Coeur d'Alene River or one of its tributaries, as Wallace, Idaho, where the movie was filmed, is in the Silver Valley.

Environmental concerns have come from upstream hard rock mining and smelting operations in the Silver Valley.

[5] The majority of the lake bed is covered in a layer of contaminated sediment and local health officials at the Panhandle Health District advise the lake's visitors to wash anything that has come into contact with potentially lead-laced soil or dust in the Coeur d'Alene River basin.