Lake County granted voice in Columbia Basin plan

In an attempt to represent the interests of local stakeholders, Lake County has secured a seat at the table as government agencies from across the Pacific Northwest sit down to draft a future management plan for the Columbia River Basin.

The county was recently granted cooperator status in a multi-party effort to develop a new environmental impact statement for Columbia River Systems Operations. The comprehensive undertaking comes after a federal judge shot down a previous version of the plan on the grounds that it did not include adequate protections for endangered salmon and steelhead.

Lake County Commissioner Gale Decker said the county’s involvement marks the first time the economic interests of Western Montana will be represented in discussions over the Columbia River as a whole.

“Typically it’s communities downriver that are involved,” he said.

With the Flathead River serving as a primary tributary for the basin, which covers a swath of the west stretching from British Columbia, Canada to northern Nevada, Decker said the county is primarily concerned with retaining water for irrigation, wildlife management and aquatic invasive species prevention.

The county has recruited natural resource lawyer Alexandra Latta of Charlo to convey this message during a series of scoping meetings that recently kicked off in Portland, Ore.

Latta, who is working for the county on a pro bono basis, said she serves as the county’s voice during discussions. She said the operations plan will include many factors, but primarily revolves around the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. With local, state, federal, tribal and international agencies involved, however, the process takes on particular magnitude.

“It’s an especially big project,” she said.

In March 2016, a Federal District Court Judge in Portland ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation to draft a new environmental impact statement in response to a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s approach to salmon.

The three “acting agencies” are charged with drafting a range of alternatives for long-term operations of the 14 federal hydroelectric projects along the river system. The process aims to evaluate the impacts on flood management, irrigation, power generation, wildlife, cultural resources and recreation.

One particular issue county commissioners said they would like to see addressed involves the loss of tax revenue from land put into tribal trust for bull trout restoration efforts.

Commissioner Bill Barron said the Bonneville Power Administration often purchases land along the Jocko River with money from the bull trout mitigation fund. When the land is later transferred to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for habitat restoration projects, Barron said it disappears from the tax roles.

“We contacted the BPA about it a couple years ago,” Commissioner Decker said. “Their response was that it had never been brought up as a concern before.”

Decker said the interaction demonstrates the benefits of participating in the drafting process.

“Maybe they can dedicate some money from the bull trout fund to help absorb those losses,” he said.

Decker said commissioners have attempted to convince neighboring Flathead, Sanders and Lincoln counties to participate in the drafting process as well.

“We tried to nudge them along, but haven’t had a lot of success,” he said.

While the drafting process remains in the information-gathering phase, Latta said early discussion has been constructive.

“I’ve been really impressed because it’s such a massive project,” she said. “I feel like they’ve been happy to have us there.”