Feds look to rewrite plan for Hungry Horse Dam operation, others

The federal agencies that operate the major dams in the Columbia River Basin are looking for public input on how best to manage the system in the future. They’re holding a round of public scoping meetings across the West, including a meeting Nov. 1 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel in Kalispell.

The agencies plan to rewrite the Columbia River System Operating Plan in the coming years, said David Wilson, spokesman for the Bonneville Power Administration. The system includes the Hungry Horse Dam and the Libby Dam of local concern.

The last plan was written in 1995. Since then, environmental groups have filed and won a lawsuit challenging the operation of the dams in the system, as salmon and steelhead stocks have remained threatened in the lower reaches of the Columbia.

The plan won’t just look at fish concerns, however. It will also address power output, recreation, irrigation and other impacts of the dams.

Locally, the Hungry Horse Dam provides benefit to the native fishery, as it keeps non-native lake trout from entering the South Fork of the Flathead River. The South Fork is one of the last strongholds of native bull trout.

The dam has also greatly reduced the flood risk in the Flathead Valley over the years and provided power to Columbia Falls industries.

But other dams lower in the system impede natural flows of the Columbia and Snake Rivers, which has impacted salmon and steelhead runs.

In May of this year, federal District Court Judge Michael Simon rejected the government’s latest plan, known as a biological opinion, for protecting salmon in the Columbia River Basin, saying the system of dams, “cries out for a new approach.”

Wilson said a new biological opinion for salmon and steelhead will be crafted in 2018. A draft environmental impact statement for the entire Columbia River System Operating Plan is expected sometime in 2020, he said.

People can also comment online at http://www.crso.info/