Dams Vs. Fish Debate Hits The Clark Fork Public Hearings To Relicense Two Wwp Dams Will Focus On Saving Bull Trout

Among the alternatives to renewing licenses for the Noxon Rapids and Cabinet Gorge dams on the Clark Fork River is not licensing them at all.

In fact, some people are calling for one or both of the dams to be removed altogether.

That suggestion made it into the most recent document to come out of the license renewal process.

As radical as it sounds, “people are starting to think in those terms and looking long term,” said Chip Corsi, a fisheries biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Washington Water Power likely will avoid that extreme solution to the problem of declining fish populations. But chances are when the dams get new licenses, some adjustments will be made to dam operations to help bull trout and other fish in the Clark Fork River.

Environmental and other issues surrounding the two dams are up for discussion at two public hearings next week in Sandpoint and Noxon, Mont.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is taking public comment from 7 to 10 p.m. Monday at Sandpoint High School and 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesday at Noxon Public School.

The comments will be used to help determine what studies are necessary for an environmental impact statement.

Among the important questions, Corsi said, are whether the fluctuations of flows from the dams are hurting fish.

“Now flows may go from 3,000 cubic feet per second to 20,000 cfs in a 24-hour period,” he said.

Another alternative under consideration is requiring that the dams be managed to release flows more like a natural river.

The Fish and Game biologists are particularly interested in how that might affect the bull trout, which is being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Lake Pend Oreille once was considered a stronghold for the bull trout, but as of this year, anglers are allowed only to catch and release it.

Other fish in trouble are the kokanee, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and whitefish.

“There’s not a healthy trout fishery in the lower Clark Fork,” Corsi said.

The 50-year Cabinet Gorge license expires in 2001 and the Noxon Rapids Dam license expires in 2007. Because the dams are close to each other, causing one reservoir to wash up against the other, WWP decided to license them simultaneously.

The dams are important to WWP, because they produce six times the power of the company’s six dams on the Spokane River.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, an advocate for the bull trout, argues that part of the answer lies in society adjusting its thirst for cheap power.

“We have to address the whole issue of consumption and look at ways we can conserve our natural resources,” said Don Smith, Idaho representative for the Alliance. “Or at some point the decision will be made for us to adjust our lifestyle.”

, DataTimes