Compromise Reached On Pend Oreille Level Kokanee Salmon, Power At Center Of Debate

Kokanee supporters and the federal government will split their differences on this winter’s Lake Pend Oreille water level.

The Lake Pend Oreille Idaho Club Inc. wanted to keep the lake at 2,055 feet to boost kokanee salmon and resolve an Idaho Department of Fish and Game study.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wanted to drop the lake down to 2,051 feet, the lake’s level for 20 years. Officials say draining the lake generates power, while storing more water can limit spring flood control.

In U.S. District Court on Monday, the two groups agreed to a temporary 2,053-foot level, to start Nov. 15 at the latest.

Biologists say the lake’s dwindling kokanee population - and the bull trout that eat them - could crash without the spawning beds created by higher lake levels.

The corps, meanwhile, decided last month that a drawdown was warranted after a regional power council failed to recommend higher lake levels.

But U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, apparently wary of violating a notice clause in the Endangered Species Act, directed the two sides to reach a compromise.

Club members said they still plan to go to court to get the lake’s winter level at 2,055 permanently.

“It’s certainly not a victory but I think we gained some important legal status here,” said Tom Mehler, a board member.

The club sought a temporary restraining order to block the corps from dropping the lake level. But members failed to file a written 60-day notice of legal action with the federal government, as required under the endangered species law.

Lodge will still rule on the merits of the Lake Pend Oreille club’s case. No trial date has been set.

The judge met privately with attorneys from both sides before the compromise was announced. Then the two sides huddled with their attorneys in the courtroom as an audience of club members, Idaho Department of Fish and Game biologists and others strained to hear.

Some club members weren’t pleased. “Isn’t this like Solomon, splitting the baby?” asked club member Dale Snipes of Sandpoint, referring to the biblical character’s bid to find a baby’s real mother by threatening to cut it in half.

Surprised state fish biologists don’t know if a 2,053-foot lake will be deep enough to sustain kokanee, which need enough water over spawning gravel to protect eggs from winter storm waves.

Flooding in 1997 washed out results for biologists in the first of three winters studying lake levels and kokanee survival. They also say this year’s relatively hearty crop of kokanee stand the best chance of survival, compared to fish in coming years.

“Biologically, it’s critical,” said Ned Horton, the state’s chief fish biologist for North Idaho, The corps could start drawing down the lake today, said Cynthia Henriksen, head of the agency’s Northwest reservoir control center.

The compromise surprised agency officials, Henriksen said.“This is different than anything we talked about.”

But the slightly higher level of 2,053 feet doesn’t appear to cause any problems, she said.

Cusick-area farmers downstream of the lake say the drawdowns caused flooding.

But court documents say even in the wettest years, the higher water level account for only about 20 percent of the farm flooding. Releases from Box Canyon Dam account for the largest share of the flooding, along with wet weather.

The issue has attracted the attention of Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who pressed the corps to keep lake levels up this winter.

ATAGLANCE Compromise * In U.S. District Court on Monday, conservationists and the federal government agreed to a temporary 2,053-foot level, to start Nov. 15 at the latest.