Background

The Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act (Act) of 1980 (Public Law 96-501) directed that measures be implemented by Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife to the extent affected by development and operation of hydropower projects on the Columbia River system (Martin et al. 1988).  The Act created the Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Council (Council), which in turn developed the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (Program). Under the Act, BPA has the authority and obligation to fund fish and wildlife mitigation activities that are consistent with the Council's Fish and Wildlife Program (USDE 1996).  Part of the Program was the development of wildlife protection, mitigation and enhancement plans for each of the hydropower facilities on the Columbia River system and ultimately, implementation of the plans to mitigate wildlife habitat losses.  The Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) developed a mitigation plan in 1987, for the Albeni Falls hydroelectric facility that was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) on the Pend Oreille River in Bonner County, Idaho between 1951 and 1955 (Martin et al. 1988).  Mitigation plans for wildlife habitat losses at each of the Columbia River Basin dams were submitted by BPA to the Council in 1989, including the mitigation plan for Albeni Falls Dam in Idaho (USDE 1996).  The Council reviewed and approved the Albeni Falls plan in 1990 (USDE 1996).  The Northern Idaho Wildlife Mitigation Agreement was jointly prepared and approved by the IDFG and BPA in June 1997 (BPA and IDFG 1997).  

The Albeni Falls Wildlife Management Plan Final Environmental Assessment (BPA 1996) addressed the potential environmental effects of a proposed wildlife habitat protection and enhancement program.  Based on the analysis in the environmental assessment, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) concluded that funding the development and implementation of the Project would enable the IDFG, as well as other federal agencies and sovereign nations to protect and enhance a variety of wetland and riparian habitats, restore 28,587 Habitat Units (HU) lost as a result of construction of the Albeni Falls Dam, and implement long-term wildlife management activities.  The Project also complies with the Wildlife Mitigation Program Final Environmental Impact Statement (BPA 1997) and the standardized planning and implementation process prescriptions set forth in the Record of Decision.  In-lieu of annualizing habitat unit losses the Council decided to mitigate losses at a 2:1 ratio. That is, for every two HU protected the HU ledger would be reduced by one HU. In 2002, however, BPA decided to maintain a 1:1 crediting policy.  The issue of how to address the annualized wildlife habitat losses remains unresolved.

This contract is one of two IDFG contracts for protection, mitigation and enhancement of wildlife habitats in Northern Idaho.  This contract covers all management and administrative responsibilities for implementing mitigation projects.  The second contract under this Project number covers all operational and maintenance of wildlife mitigation parcels.  Thus, the Project goals are twofold and are: 1) to continue the administration and ongoing implementation of the Albeni Falls Wildlife Mitigation Project; and, 2) to protect, restore, maintain, and manage wetland, riparian and upland coniferous forest habitats on three wildlife management areas in Northern Idaho.

This contract has been developed to cover personnel, mitigation implementation and monitoring costs for a 12-month contract period  (July 1, 2016 - June 30, 2017) with the following objectives:
• Identify potential mitigation actions by identifying willing landowner participants and cost-sharing partnerships, building relationships with entities interested in wildlife mitigation and meeting with County Commissioners.
• Secure conservation easements, fee-title, and lease agreements by pursuing site information and title search, writing easement terms and conditions with landowners, verifying maps, fence boundaries, and legal descriptions, coordinating completion of property appraisal and review, and developing option/purchase agreements.
• Fulfill NEPA and BPA funding requirements by coordinating completion of cultural resource surveys, hazardous waste surveys and providing information for NEPA assessment.
• Provide cost-share funding to other project entities by determining cost-share entity’s role in the proposed project.
• Coordinate completion of biological baseline surveys of specific habitat areas to determine starting point for monitoring and evaluation of biological objectives.
• Coordinate and implement information and education program.  Activities may include development of information and regulation signs and interpretive sites, production of audio-visual programs and informational brochures, and educational site tours.
• Provide assistance with monitoring and evaluation activities on mitigation lands.  Activities may include continuing HEP analysis to determine changes in habitat quality, site-specific monitoring and/or sampling of terrestrial vegetation, public use, and habitat use.
• Coordinate mitigation implementation activities associated with other members operating under the Project.
• Coordinate and develop Albeni Falls Wildlife Mitigation Project presentations to the Wildlife Caucus.  Such materials may include slides, overheads, budgets, spreadsheets, site-specific information, etc.
• Coordinate and develop designs and plans to implement protection and restoration for Project Area deltas.
• Develop administrative work statement and budget and maintain site-specific operating budgets for individual mitigation parcels.  Oversee and develop budget revisions as necessary.
• Prepare an Annual Report of Idaho Department of Fish and Game's Albeni Falls Wildlife Mitigation implementation activities.
• Monitoring and Evaluation:  to monitor vegetative cover and habitats using scientific principals and techniques to ensure that project objectives are being met and to provide a basis for use of adaptive management when appropriate.  To evaluate species and habitat responses to management activities for the benefit of fish and wildlife using mitigation lands.


Background for the Clark Fork River Delta Restoration Project

Nine areas identified in the Clark Fork River delta total about 2,496 acres before the construction and inundation of Lake Pend Oreille by the Albeni Falls Dam , and over 60 years later, the same areas total about 1,204 acres.  This represents an estimated loss of about 1,292 acres of wildlife habitat (52 percent of the total area).  The estimated wildlife habitat loss is due to the combined actions of the construction and inundation of the Albeni Falls dam, and each year that the dam operates.  Erosion of shorelines and island areas as a result of Albeni Falls operations are still occurring, and some shoreline areas are experiencing annual erosion rates of up to eight feet.

Under the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program, IDFG contracted Ducks Unlimited (DU) to conduct an updated feasibility study on potential, cost-effective shoreline erosion control measures in the Clark Fork River delta.  This is not the first time that a contractor has looked at solving the erosion issues in the delta.  Avista Corporation contracted two companies in the past:  Findlay Engineering, Inc. in 2000, and Paramatrix, Inc. in 1998.  Both companies completed the studies in support of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) re-licensing of the Avista Corporation’s Cabinet Gorge and Noxon Rapid Hydroelectric facilities.  Ducks Unlimited was asked to review the past studies, and to also contact local experts with experience in controlling shoreline erosion including the local conservation districts, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, Kalispel Tribe, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) to seek recommendations on successful shoreline erosion techniques.  Then DU was asked to develop a conceptual plan, including feasible alternatives for treating shoreline erosion at each identified site.

DU engineers recommend that work in the Clark Fork River delta should consist of first protecting shorelines from further erosion and then conducting restoration activities behind the protection.  Protection and restoration should be considered for all areas where possible.  There are many areas where protection from further erosion may be considered the only activities needed at the sites.  At present, the two ACOE’s breakwaters appear to provide good wave protection, but provide limited wildlife habitat value, recreational uses, or aesthetics.  A combination of materials such as riprap, anchored large wooded debris and vegetation could be used to construct breakwaters to protect the island shorelines, as well as providing wildlife habitat.  Geotubes could also be considered in some areas, but lessons from the Pack River delta project have shown that this technology can be cost-prohibitive.

A June 1, 2012 letter from the State of Idaho’s Office of Energy resources to Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) outlined a five-year agreement to monitor and evaluate the effects of operations at Albeni Falls dam.  A major component of the agreement provides $3 million in BPA funds over a three year period that would otherwise be considered for land acquisition, to initiate extensive river delta erosion mitigation projects where ongoing bank erosion is a concern.  Both BPA and Idaho agreed to negotiate in good faith to reach a mutually agreed upon long-term settlement for mitigation of construction, inundation, and any operational impacts on fish and wildlife resources attributed to the Albeni Falls hydroelectric project.

On October 16, 2012, IDFG hosted a meeting with BPA, ACOE, U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), federal and state regulators, as well as other interested stakeholders.  The purpose of the meeting was to coordinate a restoration project in the Clark Fork River delta with a targeted construction start date of November/December 2013, and continuing until March/April 2014.  Lands within the proposed delta restoration area are owned by ACOE, BLM and IDFG, and are all managed under a long-term management agreement with the State.  Discussions revolved around which agency would be the lead federal agency, and how to complete the regulatory requirements within the tight time lines.  The group also reviewed the draft project purpose and objectives.  The project purpose will be to protect, improve and restore key riparian and wetland habitats and their ecological function in the Clark Fork River delta.  To achieve this, the restoration project will involve creating barrier islands to project lands, reinforcing and protecting eroding shorelines in the delta, raising portions of the delta islands that are currently submerged, increasing wetland diversity.  The group supported the project purpose and formed a design team tasked with developing the restoration plan and time line.

Since 2012, IDFG worked with project engineers, fluvial geomorphologists and hydrologists to develop a project design for Phase I of the project.  Considering 1) funding levels, 2) limitations to winter construction, 3) limited timeframe, 4) cost-effectiveness, project partners recommended that only Area 3 be constructed during the winter of 2014/2015.  The engineered design for the second phase of the project involves protection work along the shorelines of White (Area 5) and Derr (Area 6) Islands and is currently being further developed and the access to the construction site investigated.  An Environmental Assessment (EA) was completed for the project in 2014; however, a supplemental EA will need to be prepared for the proposed restoration efforts in Areas 11 and 7 prior to any new work beginning in these areas to consider new information from cultural resource surveys and consultations, and results from a soil sampling plan to be completed for these areas.  No further NEPA analysis is needed for the Phase II effort as no dredging of soils is to occur and no culturally sensitive sites were found in Areas 5 and 6.

IDFG and their partners in 2015, worked to begin a portion of the construction and planting efforts proposed under the Clark Fork River Delta Restoration Project. The restoration project is being implemented to reduce the rate of erosion in the Clark Fork River delta due to altered hydrologic conditions and to restore wetland and riparian habitats within the delta.  The goal of the restoration project is to protect areas vulnerable to erosion while improving and diversifying key riparian and wetland habitats behind the protection to restore ecological function in the Clark Fork River delta.  To meet this goal the project has two focuses:
1. To protect existing areas within the delta from further erosion using environmentally compatible stabilization methods, and,
2. To restore and enhance the edge and interior areas; restoration and enhancement activities will add habitat complexity with large woody debris; promote diverse native riparian vegetation growth such as black cottonwood, dogwood and willow; and reduce non-native invasive reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea).

The project involves installing shoreline erosion control measures, installing structures to redirect local water flow, raising islands, deepening channels, establishing vegetation, and controlling weeds within the Clark Fork River delta.  The construction is proposed to occur in phases and stages and the first stage of construction occurred within Area 3 and was completed during the fall and winter of 2014/2015.  Revegetation, weed control and monitoring efforts began during the spring of 2015 and are on-going.