Temperatures Warming, But Lake’S Low Lake Pend Oreille’S Summer Level Still A Couple Of Weeks Away

As summer weather beckons boaters out onto Lake Pend Oreille this weekend, many lakefront docks remain too high for mooring.

Lake Pend Oreille isn’t scheduled to be at summer pool level for at least two more weeks, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps operates the Albeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille River, which controls the lake level.

Most years, summer pool level - and full use of lakeshore facilities - only occurs during July and August.

Some boat ramps are unsafe to use at lower levels, others are just inconvenient. And many summer lakeside residents are forced to moor boats at marinas instead of at home.

At Sandpoint Marina, a few customers still can’t get to their slips because the water’s too shallow.

“There’s nothing we can do about it,” said marina employee Robin Jensen.

The low lake levels actually benefit Harbor Marina, a deep-water marina in Garfield Bay, said co-owner Kathy Schell. Several lakefront property owners are mooring their boats there until the lake reaches summer pool.

“But I still don’t like to see it low,” Schell said Friday. Across the bay she could see lakefront docks sitting high and dry.

“A lot of fishermen have been complaining because it’s hard to launch their boats,” she said. “It’s always an issue.”

The lake level now is close to average for the lake, said Cindy Henrickson, chief of the corps reservoir control center in Portland.

On Thursday, the lake level was 2,059.3 feet. Summer pool is 2,062 to 2,062.5 feet. The average level for June 1 is 2,060 feet.

“This spring we are operating a normal kind of strategy, where we try to maintain a normal outflow and refill to a normal fill time, which is mid-June,” Henrickson said.

The outflow was increased in late May to help out with needs at Grand Coulee Dam, Henrickson said. Even with an outflow of 40,000 cubic feet per second, however, Lake Pend Oreille continued to fill.

Albeni Falls Dam, she said, is a multipurpose project - meaning, it’s managed for local flood control and power generation.

If the corps tried to fill Lake Pend Oreille quickly, she said, that would disrupt its strategy of maintaining a level outflow for extended periods of time.

“Typically it’s not our objective to be full on Memorial Day weekend,” she said. In a big spring runoff year such as 1997, she said, that can result in flooding problems.

“Normally, this time of year, Mother Nature takes care of it and brings it up,” said Albeni Falls Dam operator Earle Leeper. “We haven’t had a very high flow this year.”

The dam has received the usual complaints from waterfront property owners and boaters, he said.

“We always get a few who expect it to be the same every year,” he said. “It’s impossible to do.”

In fact, he said, this time last year the lake level was a foot lower, and summer pool level wasn’t reached until June 25.