Autumn LPO drawdown underway

SANDPOINT — Annual autumn drafting operations on Lake Pend Oreille are getting underway this week, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Outflow at the Albeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille River was increased to 13,500 cubic feet per second. The lake’s elevation was at 2,062.2 feet at the Hope gauge on Monday, the corps said in a flow update.

The corps held the lake’s elevation within the summer operating band of 2,062-2,062.5 feet through Sept. 15 and was targeted for a 2,061-foot elevation by Sept. 30.

The primary drawdown, meanwhile, will occur during October and early November.

“This operation is intended to get the lake to within a half-foot of the minimum control elevation of 2,051 feet by Nov. 15, prior to when the kokanee are expected to start spawning,” Army Corps of Engineers officials said in the flow update.