Downstream water demands may face push-back

DOVER - Momentum is gathering behind efforts to countervail downstream interests' covetous eyes on Lake Pend Oreille's water.

Chum salmon managers in the Columbia River basin claim they need it for fishery recovery, while Bonneville Power Administration wants it for power generation. The Kalispel Tribe of Indians, meanwhile, is looking into whether releases in late summer or early fall will cool temperatures below Albeni Falls and improve bull trout habitat.

Such requests tend to come at the expense of Bonner County residents, who are left with reduced access to the lake and shortened boating seasons.

"Those are of grave concern to the commission and I know to a lot of people in the community," Ford Elsaesser, chairman of the Pend Oreille Priest Basin Commission, said.

Exacerbating the concern is emerging evidence that higher lake levels during the winter do not appear to improve kokanee survival, which is stoking fear that a lower winter pool elevation of 2,051 feet will become an enduring fact of life for landowners and sportsmen on Lake Pend Oreille.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has for years used kokanee recovery as justification for submitting a Systems Operating Request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the winter pool elevated.

"We don't have a scientific basis for requesting higher lake levels for kokanee," said Chip Corsi, Fish and Game's Panhandle region director.

SORs are typically backed by scientific evidence to justify a request and Endangered Species Act issues are given significant weight. Kokanee recovery, for instance, was deemed important because they are a food source for endangered bull trout.

Elsaesser recommended the commission develop its own SOR that would prevent the annual winter drawdown from starting sooner than Sept. 15, dropping the level no more than a foot for the remainder of that month.

But such a request needs the backing of empirical evidence, such as an economic impact study demonstrating that an earlier and more rapid drawdown is hurting local businesses and tourism.

Erin Mader, the basin commission's coordinator, said she is investigating the possibility of a university-based economic impact study.

Fluctuating winter lake levels sought by BPA could also be shown to damage shoreline infrastructure, hasten erosion and increase the spread of flowering rush, an aquatic invasive species. The need for ample emergency access could also be underscored by an increase in coal and oil train traffic in the region.

Meanwhile, a coalition of landowners, businesses, clubs and other interested parties is being formed to preserve Idaho's water rights in the face of competing demands downstream, according to businessman and fisherman Ralph Sletager.

Sletager contends the dam's enabling documents require an equal balancing of competing demands, but demands for power over the years have been given too much weight.

The group is called "Save Pend Oreille" and is expected to be rolled out in the community and online in the near future, Sletager said.