'Dumb luck' helped Priest Lake level

PRIEST RIVER ­— Stakeholders in the local waterways had the chance to hear firsthand about conditions and projects affecting the lakes and rivers from a range of agencies during a Lakes Commission meeting Thursday at the Beardmore Building in Priest River.

Representatives from the Idaho Department of Water Resources, Idaho Department of Agriculture, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the Priest Lake Thorofare Commission were on hand to provide updates and answer questions on a variety of topics.

Priest Lake summer pool management at Outlet Dam

A hot topic over the early summer recreation months, IDWR Director Gary Spackman had no qualms about describing the department being able to hold the level of Priest Lake at statutory level and still allow for some flow into the Priest River through the Outlet Dam as, “dumb luck.”

“We thought with evaporation we would have to close it (Outlet Dam) completely but I think through dumb luck, amazingly, the lowest we got was 2.9 feet on the gauge and that started to increase while still maintaining some flow into the river.”

Under Idaho statute, the director is obligated to maintain the Priest Lake pool level at 3 feet, as measured by a gauge at the dam, during the summer recreation months.

The IDWR attempted to maintain the flow into the Priest River at 60 cubic feet per second, although flows dropped somewhere between 30-44 cfs during the drought.

Roger Booth, a stakeholder in the Priest Lake fisheries, said he felt the statute needs more flexibility to also accommodate those living and recreating on the Priest River, which hit record lows for outflow this summer.

“The writers of the statute couldn’t have foreseen this drought but now we need to amend it,” Booth said. “We need to have it balanced and fair above and below the dam.”

Hill’s Resort Owner and Lakes Commission member Craig Hill said he has been living at the lake for the last 60 years and this is the first year facing this situation and doesn’t want a “knee jerk reaction” to the historically dry summer.

“We need to see what happens next year,” he said. “With a few rain storms at the right time it could easily take the pressure off.”

Spackman said meteorologists and the National Weather Service are calling for a very strong El Niño year in the Northwest and water enthusiasts should be prepared for another year of what was seen this season.

He also reiterated that his responsibility as director, under Idaho statute, is to maintain the summer pool of Priest Lake at 3 feet and that statute holds senior rights over any others pertaining to the outflow into the Priest River.

Aquatic Invasive Species at Priest Lake

The Idaho Department of Agriculture conducted around 61,000 watercraft inspections over the past 8 months and found a slight increase in the number of invasive species found on vessels.

In 2014 the inspections discovered 15 mussels statewide, while 23 were found this year.

Over 12,000 vessels were inspected at stations in Bonner County, which turned up three vessels with mussels and over 30 boats were found to have invasive species of weeds.

The majority of mussels stem from Lake Havasu in Arizona, according to Tom Woolf, Aquatic Plants Program Manager for the Idaho Department of Agriculture.

Woolf said that herbicide treatments were performed on Lake Cocolalla on Tuesday and those efforts will continue to be monitored and the investigation towards hybrid milfoil will continue with the hopes of attacking it in 2016. He added that biodegradable barriers had been placed at Sandpoint City Beach and no herbicide treatments had been performed on Lake Pend Oreille.

As far as Priest Lake, no new milfoil infestations were discovered in 2015 and divers have been addressing existing locations with the anticipation of performing herbicide treatments in 2016.

“It’s still an eradication project,” Woolf said. “The density is still present so we will try to get rid of it as fast as we can.”

Priest Lake Fishery Research

The Priest Lake Fishery, world renowned for its cutthroat trout and bull trout populations from 1950 to 1970, has transitioned to a lake trout dominated fishery since the introduction of mysis shrimp in 1965. From 1950 to 1970, the lake trout population exploded from around 10,000 fish harvested annually to over 100,000.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game started commercial netting lake trout in 2006 but Regional Fisheries Manager Andy Dux called it a, “finger in the dike approach,” to the situation.

Dux added that the department can either take the approach of actions on Lake Pend Oreille and aggressively seek funds to continue suppression efforts or discontinue current efforts and allow lake trout to dominant the fishery. The department is currently in their 2013-18 management plan and will continue to collect information and work with stakeholders to develop the future plan.

During a study partnered with the University of Idaho, fish and game were able to determine through netting there was far less lake trout in Priest Lake than previously thought. The study revealed the population somewhere between 31,000 to 59,000 fish. Far lower than previously estimates of as many as 200,000 lake trout.

The study also showed a wide variety of age distribution with some fish reaching up to 35-years old. The population is dominated by lake trout from young ages to 20-years old. The majority range between 16-32 inches with most nearer to the lower end.

A comparison between Priest Lake and Lake Pend Oreille showed lake trout of smaller sizes growing at almost the same rate, or even a little faster at Priest Lake, while fish between 9-10 years old grow considerably better at Lake Pend Oreille.

Dux credited the findings to a more abundant food supply for fish in Lake Pend Oreille where, “there just isn’t enough to go around” at Priest Lake. “Suppression efforts at Lake Pend Oreille have allowed for the additional food supply”, he added.”

The Future of the Priest Lake Thorofare

Priest Lake Thorofare Committee members Ken Hagman and Fred Cox reminded the audience of the importance of the thorofare to the area. Not only does the narrow channel provide access for up to 200 boats to pass daily from the Priest Lake to Upper Priest Lake in the summer months but also represents one of only a handful of navigable rivers to connect two lakes together in North America.

The commission has been tasked since 2000 with finding a replacement for the current thorofare wall.

Over the past 40-60 years maintenance has declined due to a lack of funding, according to Haagman. He added that the thorofare was traditionally maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, which pulled back from the project and forced Bonner County to become financially involved.

An estimated $20,000 is needed to maintain the wall annually and would cost an estimated $800,000 to replace entirely. Mechanical dredging could aid in the preservation of the wall and bids ranged from $50,000 to take a band-aid approach to as high as $500,000 for total dredging and hauling of sediment.

The commission is currently in the process of receiving their dredging permit but is in desperate need of funds to complete the project.