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 is unresolved.


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 initial construction of the Albeni Falls dam and resulting inundation of Lake Pend Oreille, and each year since that the dam has been operating.  Erosion of shorelines and island areas as a result of Albeni Falls operations are still occurring at an estimated rate of between 12-15 acres per year, 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.  The 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.

Starting in 2009, IDFG, DU engineers and other Project partners such as the ACOE, BPA, Avista Corporation and the Kalispel Tribe formed a team to develop a conceptual plan, including feasible alternatives for treating shoreline erosion at each identified site.  It was recommend that work in the Clark Fork River delta consist of first protecting shorelines from further erosion and then conduct 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 was considered the only activity 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.

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 Project's tight timelines.  The group also reviewed and agreed upon the draft Project purpose and objectives.  The Clark Fork River Delta Restoration Project purpose is to protect, improve and restore key riparian and wetland habitats and their ecological function in the Clark Fork River delta.  To achieve this, the Project involves creating barrier islands to project lands, reinforcing and protecting eroding shorelines in the delta, raising portions of the delta islands that are currently submerged, and increasing wetland diversity.  The group supported the Project purpose and formed a design team tasked with developing the restoration plan and timeline.

During 2012, IDFG, engineers, fluvial geomorphologists and hydrologists worked to develop a Project design for Phase I of the project.  Considering 1) funding levels, 2) limitations to winter construction, 3) limited time frame, and 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.  An Environmental Assessment (EA) was completed for the project in 2014; however, a supplemental EA needs to be prepared for the proposed restoration efforts in Areas 11 and 7 prior to any new work beginning initiated because new information from a cultural resource survey and consultation was completed in by the ACOE in 2017, and results from a soil sampling plan was also completed for these areas in 2016.  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.

As the Project construction is proposed to occur in phases and stages, a portion of the first stage of Phase I construction occurred within Area 3 and was completed during the fall and winter of 2014/2015.  The restoration efforts involved 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.  Re-vegetation, weed control and monitoring efforts in the newly restored areas began during the spring of 2015, and are on-going.

On August 30, 2018, the State of Idaho and the Bonneville Power Administration signed a $24 million settlement to compensate the state for wildlife habitat lost due to the construction and inundation caused by the Albeni Falls Dam.  BPA and IDFG agreed that the restoration of the Clark Fork River delta, initiated under a State of Idaho – BPA letter agreement signed in 2012, is to be part of a larger effort to address Albeni Falls operational impacts on wildlife.  Operational losses resulting from Albeni Falls dam in Idaho are to be addressed for a period of 30 years through $12,991,878 in funding to restore no less than an additional 1,378 acres in the delta areas. These restoration acres, together with the acres that already restored in the 2015 construction effort, will be credited as mitigation of the estimated 2,002 acres of operational impacts within Idaho.  Those acres restored to mitigate operational impacts are to be provided stewardship funding to operate and maintain the restoration on these acres in perpetuity by deposit of a total of $1,144,000 into a stewardship account invested and managed for those purposes.  BPA and the State of Idaho agreed that the implementation period of the agreement will be ten years, during which IDFG will implement restoration projects as identified and funded in the agreement and BPA will provide administrative funding to IDFG to implement these projects through annual contracts of $300,000/year for a total of no less than $3,000,000 in funding. BPA and the state agreed that inflation costs for restoration and administration funds during the ten years will be accounted for through adjustments outlined in the agreement.