FISHING -- Idaho Fish and Game officials plan to make a bed with hopes that kokanee wil lay (eggs) in it.

A multi-year project to improve kokanee spawning habitat in Lake Pend Oreille is getting started as barges haul and dumping small gravel along a shoreline in Idlewilde Bay out of Farragut State Park.

Andy Dux, a department fisheries research biologist, says the area is dominated by large rocks and is not currently used by kokanee for spawning.  "Adding a layer of smaller gravel over top of this larger rock will provide kokanee with material that they can readily move and deposit eggs within," he said.

Research has shown the site has aturally occurring downwelling currents where lake water enters the adjacent aquifer. “Egg incubation success is about three times higher when downwelling currents are present,” Dux said.  "The combination of suitable gravel and downwelling currents should create high-quality spawning habitat for kokanee."

The site is just west of the Eagle boat ramp in Farragut State Park.  About 3,900 cubic yards of gravel will be added to the lake bottom over the next three years.  Contractors are scheduled to be placing gravel this season Oct. 6 -31. 

The Eagle boat ramp will remain open during the project; however, the lanes on the western half of the ramp will be closed when contractors are working. Gravel placement will be evaluated by SCUBA divers and an underwater video camera.

The project is being funded by the Bonneville Power Administration as partial mitigation for impacts from Albeni Falls Dam, Dux said.  The project is designed to provide kokanee with more spawning habitat in the lake regardless of the winter lake elevation, he said.