Kootenai River Restoration at Bonners Ferry
The following comments were submitted in response to the open comment period described below.
Comments are numbered consecutively as they are received. Breaks in the number sequence result when comments are deleted because they
were submitted in error or have inappropriate content (such as SPAM). If you do not see your comment two business days after
you submit it, please contact (800) 622-4519.
The Bonneville Power Administration is proposing to fund the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho to restore portions of the Kootenai River near the town of Bonners Ferry, in Boundary County, Idaho. The proposed project involves installing structures on the river banks, excavating areas in the river to create deeper pools, developing and enhancing islands that would be planted with native vegetation. The project has been designed to improve habitat for Kootenai White Sturgeon that are listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act and other native fish. These efforts would complement other restoration activities already occurring on the Kootenai River, and would help mitigate for the construction and operation of Libby Dam located upstream in Montana.
To better understand the potential environmental impacts of this proposal, BPA will prepare an environmental assessment (EA) as part of its responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act. During this process, BPA will work with landowners, tribes, federal, state and local agencies, and interest groups. You are invited to comment on the proposal and or attend a public meeting being held in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
For More Information:
https://www.bpa.gov/goto/BonnersFerry
Close of comment: 3/10/2014
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Snyder
Phone conversation with Keith Snyder. He received a scoping letter and called with a question/comment.
Mr. Snyder said that he has enjoyed walking on the north bank of the Kootenai River in the area of the proposed project but has been told that land is private property and that he cannot walk there. He would like to see the project include foot paths to allow for public access through the area for recreational purposes.
He said he intends to attend the public meeting on the 26th.
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AffleckPlease see attached document for comment
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McleishPlease see attached document for comment
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LandrumPlease see attached document for comment
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Corsi/Idaho Dept. of Fish and GamePlease see attached document for comment
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Isaac
The money that has already been spent on the program is tremendous. More community support will make it better.
1. To create pools, drive pilings in intervals that will cause holes to be excavated around the poles. (Cost effective method)
2. Create a model of the river as a public interactive display by allowing people to place handfuls of sand in the flowing water in the model. People would be able to see how the river and its sediment interact. This will give understanding to more about the projects in the area.
3. A large fish tank in the community would be a great asset and community education tool.
4. Any project without community support will not be successful.
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N/A/City of Bonners Ferry
The City of Bonners Ferry has a water intake facility on the south shore of the Kootenai River at the terminus (end) of Dakota St. At this point there is a coffer dam in the mainstream of the river.
The city is concerned that any bank restoration or river restoration work will negatively impact their ability of the city to get water from the river through its intake.
The EA should consider any potential impacts to this intake facility in the design and possible implementation of this project.
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Fioravanti
Dear Bonneville Power,
The comment that I have on the Kootenai River Restoration Project is that if at anytime during the project, private property needs to be purchased, I'd like to see it purchased in the title of Boundary County instead of the Kootenai Tribe. I request this for two reasons.
1. Once land is transferred out of private ownership and given to the Tribe, the County looses the tax base. At the meeting I was told that Bonneville Power gives money to the Tribe to purchase land. Bonneville can just as easy give the money to the County to purchase the land than the Tribe.
2. If the Tribe owns the land, they will, at some uncertain time, ask the Bureau of Indians Affairs, to place that land in trust. In other words, the land then becomes reservation land. Once it is reservation land, it is a sovereign nation within our County. The Tribe does not have to follow any previously agreed upon contracts, such as putting the land into a conservation easement. In fact, other entities, even from other countries, can contact the Tribe and pay for, as well as incentive's them to build whatever they come up with on "river front property". This has already happened many times in our country. Remember, tribal reservation land is a sovereign independent nation within the borders of America. And of course, they do not pay any taxes.
Thank you for considering my comments.
Wishing you the best.
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GalbraithWe greatly appreciate the opportunity to provide comments as individuals living in the community and along the banks of the Kootenai River. We see and enjoy the abundance of wildlife along the river and respect the importance of maintaining and restoring the natural resource. Recreational use; We see many people access the river for recreation; power boats, jet skis, kayaks, fishing from a variety of boats and people floating the river on various flotation devices. After seeing the upriver project where the logs jet dangerously and hazardously out into the current along two consecutive and sustained outside corners worries me for the safety of human users. I regularly use the river for recreation as well as my children and grandchildren. I fear the restoration is making the river too dangerous for recreational use. Currents push floating objects into the outside corners, as basic water flow principals. Inner-tube floaters or other basic flotation devices that do not have motors or other means of navigation, having the fast moving current push them into the perilous web of protruding logs could be disastrous. Inexperienced kayakers could also get in trouble in the wrong current at the wrong time because it takes strength, skill and ample time to pre-plan paddling away from this type of danger in the fast moving current of that area. On the opposite side of the river, is a midfield of inverted trees with the root wads protruding upward. It would be prudent to spend part of the funds for this stretch of the project to revamp the logs in that stretch of the river by greatly reducing the amount of wood protruding into the water that will trap recreational floaters or swimmers and drown them, or provide protection against the hazardous areas. Reducing the length of the log protruding from the bank along the extremely dangerous web of logs would make it more compatible for users above the water, as restoration projects are said to provide benefit to recreational use as well. Continuing the thought of recreational use of the river, creating more whirlpools that could also pull swimmers and recreational users down into the whirlpool suction that is purposely created to continually scour the bottom for sustaining a deeper pool, needs to be preceded by a means of protecting recreational users from entering the hazardous area. Our community has already experienced people drowning due to the very same type of whirlpool suction in the Kootenai River. It would be derelict to knowingly create more opportunity for such tragedy to happen. Bank erosion; As part of a previous study attempting to improve sturgeon spawning, the river level was severely fluctuated for several consecutive years. In addition to the purposeful man made fluctuations, God magnified and sustained some of the flood stages. As a homeowner along the bank, we have implemented measures to help protect and correct the severe riverbank erosion resulting from the extreme river level fluctuations. Displacing water during high water flows by building islands will push a higher volume of water towards the banks causing further erosion. That will likely be followed by a new deeper channel creation since the water has to ‘go somewhere.’ That could change the main current causing further bank erosion. There is a deep pool directly in front of our property known for sturgeon spawning and often has sturgeon feeding and resting. Tagged sturgeon are recorded in the pool regularly by tracking equipment staged nearby. Water fluctuations cause bank erosion along our property allowing the fine sand/soil sediment to erode and settle in that spawning area. Sediment settling on sturgeon eggs is said to suffocate them. Agencies such as the Army of Corp of Engineers and other public or grant funded agencies will not provide for private property bank protection. We are required to shoulder the full costs of erosion protection ourselves, while being forced to endure the negative effects of experimental projects beyond our control. We observe jet boats from all of the various agencies speeding up and down the river almost daily, sometimes several times a day during high water as though it causes no problems. Water that was previously flowing clean and clear will turn thick and muddy along the shore as the powerful wake from the boats ‘protecting the river’ repeatedly crash against the water soaked, weakened, soft soil causing further erosion and bank damage. It seems prudent to protect the banks first. A cohesive plan; An article published in the newspaper,February 6, 2014 spoke of the health of every stream and tributary flowing into the Kootenai and Moyie. The article explained; creating more shade and better riparian health along those streams leads to improved overall health, and is considered important enough to provide resources and funding. A lay person can perceive the same treatment along with the same need to protect and preserve the main rivers should be applied. Bank armoring with large boulders that absorb solar warmth and transfer that heat into the river water further complicates the problem. Since the rivers have a broader water surface to absorb solar loading and increased water temperatures which the newspaper article said leads to the degradation of water quality for sustaining aquatic life, brings question to mind the current practice of removing the vast majority of natural shade along the banks of the Kootenai. The current practices of the City of Bonners Ferry and Army Corp of Engineers removing shade trees along the banks are contradictory to the recommendation of shading to further cool the tributaries feeding the Kootenai. As a private land owner on the north bank, we’re told we must remove the shade trees on our property that help shade the river and connecting soil. When we didn’t comply, our trees were cut during an ‘emergency high water event’ leaving a wake of devastation and destruction, claiming the Army Corp of Engineers will not provide flood fighting to public lands if there are any trees or large growth anywhere on the riverbank within the city limits. We face a repeat of the same thing happening again in the near future. Although we are not provided bank erosion protection for our private land, we are still forced to comply with their demands for the same land they refuse to provide protection. Our long term memories recall discussions pertaining to the extreme cold water temperatures from the bottom of Lake Koocanusa could be hindering fish and aquatic health in the Kootenai River. If the tributaries become colder, consider what that will cause in the Kootenai as well. What is really best? We challenge Federal, State and Local agencies to create plan that supports the needs of all species in, along, above, and contributing to the Kootenai River. Constant battles of different standards and different practices isn't beneficial to any species above or below water. In closing, we believe all future restoration projects should be done from an equal ascetic perspective. The hazardous, perilous log webs and forest of upended tree roots upstream are unsightly. Ascetic value as viewed from the windows of the Kootenai River Inn, owned by the river restoration funding agency, the Kootenai Tribe, and seen from the highly traveled highway 95 should all carry the same ascetic value as any future projects. Not up scaled in that area and then lowered in other areas.
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Rasmussen/Bureau of Land ManagmentPlease see attached document for comment
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/Kootenai Valley Resource InitiativePlease see attached document for comment
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Robinson/Union Pacific RailroadPlease see attached document for comment
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