Kootenai River will be near flood stage

BONNERS FERRY — Bonners Ferry will be at or near flood stage for up to seven days starting the first week of June.

Extra water will be released from Libby Dam in addition to the normal peak flows to satisfy the part of the biological opinion for the endangered Kootenai River white sturgeon.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is maintaining minimum flow (6,000 cfs) at Libby Dam through May 22.

Flows will begin to ramp up to normal peak flow of 250,000 cfs by June 1. Then, the extra 10,000 cfs will be spilled when the temperature is acceptable, the river is at the correct stage and at least one female sturgeon is at Ambush Rock ready to spawn upstream.

The extra water will be spilled for up to seven days with the dam being at full powerhouse capacity for at least nine days. The flows will be slowly ramped down by July 1.

The purpose of the additional flow is to test the hypothesis that the additional flows during high water with the right temperatures will coax sturgeon upstream to spawn over rocky substrate.

The rocky substrate is in the canyon reach of the Kootenai River, from just below the confluence of the Moyie River to Kootenai Falls.

The additional flows were outlined in the 1994 biological opinion created when the Kootenai River sturgeon was listed on the Endangered Species List.

“This hypothesis has needed to be tested for 15 years,” said Jason Flory, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. “We’ll test the hypothesis and learn from it.”

“Why do we need to do this? Because it is law, the biological opinion is the roadmap from Congress. The biological opinion drives the operations,” said Mick Shea, Libby Dam project manager.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asked for the spill test in the 2006 Biological Opinion instead of installing two additional turbines in Libby Dam.     The spill test will decide if the additional flows are necessary for the reproduction of the sturgeon and if the two additional turbines are needed to maintain those flows for the sturgeon.

This is the first of three years that the spill test will happen. The 2008 settlement agreement required three years of additional flows to test the hypothesis if two years of temperature management didn’t succeed.         Temperature management in 2008 and 2009 did not result in successful recruitment of sturgeon.

“The key is river stage and temperature management,” said Flory, along with having female sturgeon ready to spawn during the high water.

“The flows are all guided by flood stage in Bonners Ferry,” said Greg Hoffman, Libby Dam Fishery Biologist. The maximum projection for Bonners Ferry is 1763.6 feet, with flood stage being 1764 feet.

“How many days will the river be above 1752 feet? That’s when we start to get damage,” Bill Michalk said.

“From around May 20 to July 1, about 40 days,” said Joel Fenolio, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Upper Columbia senior water manager.

“Public health and safety is paramount,” said Shea.

Shea told Glen Fodge there is no answer as to who is liable for flood damage.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “can only do advance measures if danger is imminent,” said Olton Swanson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deputy district engineer, with imminent being two to three days. Once the local community exhausts their resources, then the Corps can come in to help if there is an imminent threat to life and property.

“The Corps doesn’t have authority to do anything after the event.”

“I want to hear common sense, not a big research project at our expense,” said Fodge.

“The community is going to lose millions of dollars this year,” said Michalk.

“Let’s do this for three years, if we don’t get a response, we’ll move on to something else,” said Shea. Other measures include temperature, nutrient and habitat management.

Sue Ireland, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho Fish and Wildlife Department director, presented an overview of the Kootenai Tribe’s habitat restoration plan.

“We can create an ideal channel without high flows. Yeah, it is artificial but manipulation of the dam is artificial,” said Michalk. “We have had three years of high flows in the last ten years without additional propagation. There were year classes missing before Libby Dam was built.”

There has not been significant recruitment of sturgeon since 1974. According to Flory, there have been less than 10 unmarked juveniles found each year. “The hatchery is our fail-safe against extinction.”