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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lake Levels Could Plunge In Wintertime Power Council Plans Public Meeting On Future Of Lake Pend Oreille

While the summer level of Lake Pend Oreille won’t be dropped as Sandpoint-area residents feared, the wintertime level remains open to question.

The winter lake level will be discussed at a public meeting at 10 a.m. March 18 in the Sandpoint Community Center.

In a salmon recovery opinion released Wednesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service decided against drawing the lake down in the summer. Regional director Will Stelle said the amount of water that would provide to help fish migration downstream was too small to warrant the disruption in North Idaho.

So marinas and lakeshore owners won’t have to move docks; recreation and related businesses won’t suffer.

But the fisheries service was silent on the issue of wintertime lake levels, said spokesman Brian Gorman. The agency left that up to the Northwest Power Planning Council.

In December, the council approved keeping the lake 5 feet higher than its normal wintertime level during a three-year experiment to improve kokanee spawning.

The change, which would cost millions in lost hydropower generation, was sought by sportsmen and the Idaho Fish and Game Department. It was approved by the power council at the urging of the council’s two Idaho members.

However, the council has new Idaho members. They are Todd Maddock and Mike Field. They haven’t decided whether to support a wintertime lake-level change, Maddock said Friday.

Largely because of their concerns, the council is reviewing its salmon strategy. As a result, there is some chance that the Lake Pend Oreille issue might be reopened.

Maddock and Field expect to attend the March 18 meeting to learn what they can about the issue, he said.

The meeting was scheduled at the request of state Rep. Jim Stoicheff and Sen. Tim Tucker.

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