Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has prepared a draft environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge Floodplain Reconnection Project, which describes the project and why it is needed, discusses the potential environmental impacts the project would create, and lists the proposed mitigation measures that would lessen potential impacts.
BPA proposes to provide funding to the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho (KTOI) to restore floodplain connectivity to the Kootenai River historical floodplains within the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge (KNWR) in Boundary County, Idaho near Bonners Ferry, Idaho.
The KNWR is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The USFWS and the KTOI are the project sponsors. The project’s reconnection activities would include breaching levees, raising roads, replacing water control structures, enhancing wetlands, and re-establishing wetland connections. All of these actions would occur within an overall project area of about 2,330 acres.
The EA can be viewed on the project website.
If you would like to request a hard copy (about 80 pages), please call our toll-free document request line at 1-800-622-4520. Please leave a message with the project name, your name, and complete mailing address.
Please send your comments on the EA by October 17 and reference the KNWR Floodplain Reconnection Project. There are several ways to comment; by mail to Bonneville Power Administration Public Affairs – DKE-7, P.O. Box 14428, Portland, OR 97291-4428, or online at www.bpa.gov/comment
A public meeting will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 1, at the County Annex, 6566 Main Street, Bonners Ferry. At the public meeting there will be a presentation providing the analysis documented in the EA. Project staff will be available to answer questions and accept comments about the scope of the environmental review.