Kootenai habitat restoration ongoing

BONNERS FERRY — A habitat restoration project in the Kootenai River may cause occasional, brief traffic delays this month as trucks transport construction materials to staging areas on Riverside Street and North River Drive, according to Kootenai Tribe of Idaho officials.

The Straight Reach project is located just downstream from the Highway 95 bridge in the center of town. A conveyor belt set up at the Search and Rescue boat ramp will transfer the materials to a barge for construction of a spur along the river bottom extending from the south bank, officials said.

The project calls for a second spar that juts from the north bank of the river. Together, these deeply submerged structures will provide clean surfaces where spawning sturgeon can attach their eggs and interstitial spaces where the hatched larvae can hide from predators. Because the spurs will be in a deep channel, they will not pose a navigation risk for boaters.

The Kootenai River Habitat Restoration Program projects receive funding from Bonneville Power Administration throught the Northwest Power and Conservation Councl’s Fish and Wildlife Program. More information is available at www.restoringthekootenai.org or by calling Susan Ireland, Fish and Wildlife director for the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho at 208-267-3620.