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Working for clean water, healthy ecosystems and lasting quality of life in the Flathead Watershed in Northwest Montana.

P.O. Box 70 | Polson, MT 59860 | 406-883-1346 | Email to Lakers

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Updated 17 August 2001

Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes Lake Levels Brochure

Disclaimer. This is being published on the web site of the Flathead Lakers at the request of, and as a courtesy to, the CSKT. The CSKT are solely responsible for the information and arguments presented.

The brochure also is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF (200K) for downloading and printing. We recognize that the graphs are a bit hard to read. We're working on the problem and hope to have more legible graphs up in a few days.

For additional information on lake levels, please see our Lake Levels Section. For information specific to the drought of 2001, please see our Drought Update page.

NewRecommendation from the Flathead Lakers

If the lake's level left you high and dry, or had another adverse impact on you, please get in touch with the CSKT -- no matter where you live on the lake -- so that your situation can be documented. Call Richard Janssen, Tribal Information Officer, at 406-675-2700, extension 1299, or email him at info@cskt.org.

2001 FLATHEAD LAKE WATER LEVELS

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation make decisions to protect FLATHEAD LAKE RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES while achieving the highest possible flows in Flathead River above Flathead Lake and lower Flathead River below Kerr Dam.

Flathead Lake and lower river system.

Kerr Dam.

TYPICAL FULL POOL OF FLATHEAD LAKE:

  • The maximum elevation for Flathead Lake is 2,893 feet above mean sea level (msl).
  • 1990-1999 average pool elevations for Flathead Lake for the months of June, July and August are 2892.38 2892.90, and 2892.80, respectively.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR:

  • Water available for Flathead Lake has been in short supply due to numerous factors:
  • Ongoing drought conditions created below average inflows since October 2000. (See A)
  • The outflows through Kerr Dam during the months between October 2000 and mid-February of this year were average.
  • This imbalance between inflows and outflows led to lower than average levels in Flathead Lake. (See A)

WHAT THE SALISH AND KOOTENAI TRIBES HAS DONE TO HELP:

  • The CS & K Tribes agreed to sacrifice lower river resources to ensure the lake would fill on time. The outflows from Kerr Dam were reduced to 9800 cubic feet per second (cfs), (77% of minimum flow agreed to in the FERC license) from mid-May to June 18. (See C)
  • Allowed 180,000 acre-feet of water to remain in Flathead Lake, raising the elevation of the lake 12 inches during this same period.
  • Agreed to reduce outflows sooner than planned, this will allow the lake elevation to stabilize. (See E)

WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR HAS DONE TO HELP:

  • Allowed for short-term deviations in license requirements.
  • Allowed higher outflows in mid June to avoid projected overfilling. (See D)

WHAT PPL MONTANA HAS DONE TO HELP:

  • Lowered generating flows to minimum of 3200 cfs in January to start refilling the lake. (See B)
  • Agreed to flows in Lower River at 4000 cfs to help river resources. (See E)

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT:

  • The Salish and Kootenai Tribes have agreed with the Department of Interior, PPL Montana, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to rapidly reduce outflows from Kerr Dam to 4,000 cfs.
  • Water for endangered salmon will be moved downstream from Hungry Horse increasing inflows to match outflows.
  • Forecasts predict the Flathead Lake level will peak at 2,891.93 feet above msl on August 5. The level of Flathead Lake will begin to drop to a predicted elevation of 2,891.45 feet above msl on August 31.

Graph 1: 2000-01 inflow of water into Flathead Lake compared to the average from 1951-2000. (2000-2001 water inflows were well below average)
Graph 2: 2000-01 lake elevations compared to 10-year average and 1965 Memorandum of Agreement with the Army Corp of Engineers.
Graph 3: 2000-01 lower river operations compared to 1951-2000 average and FERC ordered minimum flows.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE AFFECTED BY CURRENT FLATHEAD LAKE LEVELS ON THE SOUTH HALF OF FLATHEAD LAKE:

  1. Call Richard Janssen, Tribal Information officer at 406-675-2700, extension 1299 or email at info@cskt.org.
  2. We will send a natural resource professional to personally meet with you and inspect your dock, and/or shore station and document the effects, either economic or otherwise.

3. Access up to date lake level information at http://montana.usgs.gov or www.flatheadlakers.org.

Copyright 2001, Flathead Lakers, all rights reserved. Webmaster.