BPA seeks comments on delta's restoration

SANDPOINT — The Bonneville Power Administration is hosting a scoping meeting Wednesday to gather public input on a project to protect the Clark Fork Delta from erosion.

The meeting starts at 4 p.m. in the community room at Panhandle State Bank, located at 414 Church St. The meeting will be an open-house format with a brief presentation at 5 p.m.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land Management and BPA are proposing the project, which aims to protect, improve and restore key riparian and wetlands habitats.

The project, located at the confluence of the Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille, also seeks to restore riparian and wetland areas’ ecological function.

The project involves using pieces of woody debris, such as a trees with intact root wads, and rock to help stabilize shorelines, planting native vegetation and raising some ground surfaces to create plant and wildlife habitat, according to a BPA scoping notice.

Some of the restoration concepts to be applied on the Clark Fork Delta were vetted during restoration of the Pack River Delta.

The undertaking is being funded by BPA and managed by the Idaho Department of Fish & Game. The corps and BLM are the permitting agencies.

BPA agreed to fund the restoration effort after the state of Idaho agreed not to challenge a plan to fluctuate the level of the lake during winter for power purposes.

In exchange for the state’s tacit approval of the plan, BPA is providing $1 million a year for the next three years to fund the restoration project.

The Pend Oreille Basin Commission, a state advisory board, has questioned whether the $3 million will be sufficient to mitigate impacts from construction of the Albeni Falls Dam and the resulting inundation of lands in Idaho.

BPA is preparing an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act to analyze the effects of the restoration project.

The deadline to submit written comments on the restoration project is Aug. 19. BPA said all the comments that are received will eventually be posted to its website (www.bpa.gov/comment).

Written comments should be directed to BPA, Public Affairs - DKE-7, P.O. Box 14428, Portland, OR 97293-4428. Comments can also be posted online (www.bpa.gov/comment) or emailed to comment@bpa.gov.