Katherine Cousins of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game motors through the Clark Fork River delta Monday, Sept. 22, while touring the area. (SR photo: Jesse Tinsley)

On a fall afternoon, the Clark Fork Delta is a place of astonishing beauty. Yellow-green grasses glow against the denim-blue of the Clark Fork River as it empties into Lake Pend Oreille. Each detour down the braided river channels reveals a surprise: an eagle’s nest, a pair of redheaded ducks, a golden stand of cottonwoods. In a kayak and in hip waders, Katherine Cousins has explored this fertile meeting place of land and water. Amid the striking scenery, she sees an ecosystem in peril. “The delta is melting away,” said Cousins, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game mitigation biologist. Each year, the 5,600-acre delta loses about 15 acres to erosion. The culprit is fluctuating lake levels that benefit hydropower production but corrode the delta’s shoreline/Becky Kramer, SR. More here.

Question: Have you spent time enjoying the Clark Fork River/Delta?