The Bureau of Reclamation has continued discussions with the state of Montana and the Columbia River Technical Management Team regarding falling elevations at Flathead Lake downstream of Hungry Horse Dam. This is due to dry conditions and required minimum Flathead releases in the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes’ Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license that exceed inflow.
Decisions about changing flow rates from Hungry Horse Dam to support any system operation request from a Technical Management Team (TMT) team member are considered by the entire team. This team includes representatives from the Reclamation, Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state of Montana, state of Oregon, state of Idaho, state of Washington, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Spokane Tribe of Indians, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Nez Perce Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and Confederated Tribes Warm Springs.
The TMT declined to accept a proposed operation change developed by Reclamation in response to Montana’s request for increased flows from the Hungry Horse Project. Reclamation will continue to operate per the agreed-on regime, which was coordinated with the TMT (the Regional Adaptive Management Group) on June 28th and agreed to by the members of the TMT, which includes NOAA Fisheries and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks. We are committed to ongoing collaboration with the state, Tribe and partners.
Source: Bureau of Reclamation