Lake Creek Land Acquisition and Enhancement Project
Version I, September 3, 2004
Statement of Work and Budget FY2005

BPA Project Number:  1990-044-01
BPA Project Title: Lake Creek Land Acquisition
Contract Number:  00006223
Contract Title:
Performance/Budget Period: 10/01/04 - 09/30/05

Gerald I. Green
Wildlife Mitigation Biologist
Coeur d'Alene Tribe
850 "A" Street, P.O. Box 408
Plummer, ID 83851
Phone 208-686-0312
Fax 208-686-3021
ggreen@cdatribe-nsn.gov

Cameron Heusser
Wildlife Program Manager
Coeur d'Alene Tribe
850 "A" Street, P.O. Box 408
Plummer, ID 83851
Phone 208-686-5521
cheusser@cdatribe-nsn.gov

Catherine Layton
Director of Finance
Coeur d'Alene Tribe
850 "A" Street, P.O. Box 408
Plummer, ID 83851
Phone 208-686-5044
Fax 208-686-0246
clayton@cdatribe-nsn.gov

Background
In 1994, the Northwest Power Planning Council amended its Fish and Wildlife Program to include the following language in Section 10.8.B.21:

"Conduct a NEPA analysis, a habitat analysis and a land value appraisal of a 2,100 acre wetland/riparian and associated upland parcel in the Lake Creek drainage and Windy Bay area of Lake Coeur d'Alene.  This is to be credited for 1.) 250 acres of wildlife habitat losses due to Albeni Falls Dam impacts on Lake Pend Oreille, an aboriginal use area for the Tribe, and 2.) as a resident fish substitution for extensive salmon losses due to the construction and operation of Grand Coulee Dam."  

Efforts to implement this measure of the program were ongoing from its inception in 1994 until the Project scope was redefined in the 2000 Rolling Provincial Review.  Initially, the primary objective of this project was the purchase of the Godde Property from Kootenai Properties Inc.  The Bonneville Power Administration was to be credited a minimum of 760 wildlife Habitat Units for Albeni Falls Construction and Inundation Losses for the Godde Property purchase.  The process of negotiation with Mr. Godde, the majority shareholder in Kootenai Properties Inc, was a series of starts and stops that was never resolved.  Negotiations began late in 1994 and continued through December of 2000.  Despite intensive efforts by the Tribe to negotiate an agreed upon price with Kootenai Properties Inc., the disparity between the asking price for the property and the appraised value was insurmountable.  Kootenai Properties Inc. continually expressed interest in selling the property to the Tribe in all negotiation attempts; however, Kootenai Properties' asking price was never reduced to approximate the appraised value of the property.  The Tribe even pursued the idea of protecting the property through alternative means including both a perpetual conservation easement and a long-term lease agreement.  These options, however, were unappealing to the landowner and the majority of the identified project funds remained unspent throughout much of the project's life due to the focus on securing the management rights to a single priority property.  

Despite the overall importance of this single property to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's mitigation efforts, the decision was made to suspend negotiations for the Godde Property and focus efforts on other properties in the watershed that provide similar benefits to wildlife and westslope cutthroat trout recovery efforts.  As part of the first 3-year Provincial Rolling Review in 2000, the Tribe identified a series of target areas for protection and restoration based on a variety of factors and the scope of the Project was changed from focusing on a single property to encompassing a number of priority properties that allowed for flexibility in accomplishing the objectives of mitigating the Tribe.  During the Review process the reworked Lake Creek Project was recognized as High Priority by the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority (CBFWA) (March 16, 2001).  The ISRP recommended the Lake Creek Project be combined with the newly proposed Coeur d'Alene Wetlands Project (original Project # 24015) (April 6, 2001).  At the close of the 2001 Rolling Review, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (then the Northwest Power and Planning Council) recommended the Lake Creek Project be funded under the conditions stated by the Independent Scientific Review Panel (ISRP) (October 19, 2001).  On March 25, 2002, the Bonneville Power Administration recommended this Project be funded in combination with the Coeur d'Alene Wetlands Project.  On July 10, 2003, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council once again recommended these Projects be combined additively at the meeting to project FY2004 funding levels.

During the Rolling Provincial Review a Scope of Work for Lake Creek Land Acquisition and Enhancement was contracted (August 14th, 2001).  Initial efforts to combine the Lake Creek Project with the Coeur d'Alene Wetland Project failed as the Coeur d'Alene Wetlands Project was never contracted.  No cost contract extensions for the Lake Creek project were approved on 10/3/02, 2/26/03, 8/7/03, 9/19/03, and 12/23/03.  Additional efforts were made to combine the Lake Creek and Coeur d'Alene Wetlands Projects with the submittal of a Coeur d'Alene Wetlands Scope of Work on 11/10/03, and 11/17/03.  No contract to finalize that combination was returned to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.  All attempts to subsume this Project into the Coeur d'Alene Wetlands Project according to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's intent, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council recommendations, and BPA agreement have failed.  In order to proceed with mitigation activities and attempt to fulfill the intent of the original Lake Creek Project, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe relied on a series of contract extensions from August of 2002 until April 1, 2004 when a new contract was established.  

On In 2002, a portion of the funds originally allocated to purchase the Godde Property were used to purchase the 147.6 acre Ramsey Property, which is downstream and adjoining the Godde Property and at the mouth of Lake Creek and at the head of Windy Bay on the east shore of Coeur d'Alene Lake.  The Bonneville Power Administration was credited a minimum of 30 HUs for the Ramsy Property acquisition, leaving a residual of 730 baseline Habitat Units that are still to be credited to Albeni Falls for lands purchased in Lake Creek.  The 2004 contract centered on initiating management actions on the Windy Bay Property and beginning assessments in preparation of a management plan for the property.  This Scope of Work establishes the objectives and tasks for completion of the management plan for the Windy Bay Property, the continuation of protection actions for the Property, and the pursuit of fee title to additional properties in the Lake Creek Watershed to further reduce the HU ledger that was initially associated with the Lake Creek Land Acquisition and Enhancement Project.  

It is the intent of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe to continue to fully implement projects designed to compensate the Tribe for losses due to the establishment of the Columbia River Federal Hydropower System.  The Coeur d'Alene Tribe participated in the writing of a Subbasin Plan for the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin and the Tribe intends to implement projects consistent with the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin Plan as soon as it is fully adopted.  For the immediate future however, the Tribe intends to focus on managing the Windy Bay Property in a manner consistent with the protection and enhancement of the Habitat Units that can be derived from the Property and continue attempts to achieve the original goals of the Lake Creek Land Acquisition Project.    
Goals
(as originally stated in the proposal submitted in December, 2000)

An integrated and holistic watershed protection and restoration approach designed to improve the overall health of the Lake Creek Watershed will contribute to the attainment of several goals set forth for both the Aquatic and Wildlife Resources in the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin Summary.  These goals as stated in the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin Summary (2001) include:

AQUATIC RESOURCES

Goal 1 Fully mitigate aquatic resource losses caused by hydropower development.

While this Project will not attain the goal of full mitigation, it will assist in the continuation of off-site mitigation through resident substitution, which is the first strategy listed in the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin Summary.  Increased sediment loads from agricultural runoff and unimproved forest roads, and increases in water temperature due to riparian canopy removal may be two of the most critical problems currently affecting tributary populations of westslope cutthroat trout (Peters and Vitale 1998).  The acquisition of management rights in the Lake Creek Watershed will provide access to wetland/riparian habitats that are currently inaccessible.  Access will allow restoration and enhancement activities that will result in restoration and/or enhancement of wetland/riparian habitats.  Improvements in wetland/riparian habitats, in turn, are expected to provide shading for streams, reducing water temperatures during critical time periods, and filtering that will reduce sediment loads.  

Goal 2 Mitigate and compensate the Coeur d'Alene Tribe for salmon and steelhead extirpation in the Upper Columbia River using a multiple resource approach.

Since the extirpation of anadromous fisheries in the Spokane River basin, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe has relied solely on the resident fish and wildlife resources of the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin to supplement their traditional subsistence diet.  Declines in this resource lead to the cessation in harvest of all native resident trout species in priority watersheds in 1993 (Coeur d'Alene Tribal Resolution #101).  In 1994, the NPPC adopted the recommendations set forth by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe to improve the Reservation fishery (NWPPC Fish and Wildlife Program 1995 Section 10.8B20).  These recommendations clearly state the intent to restore native resident fish populations as partial mitigation for lost Tribal resources.  The wetland/riparian habitats targeted by this proposal are among the most productive terrestrial wildlife habitats as well as the most essential in supplying the needs of weak resident salmonid populations.  

Goal 3 Protect, enhance, and restore native fish populations to maintain stable, viable levels, to ensure they are not vulnerable to extinction, and to provide ecological benefits.

The purchase of critical watershed areas for the protection and restoration of native fish species and their habitat is a strategy to achieve Objective 1 (restore bull trout population by 2015) and Objective 2 (protect and restore remaining westslope cutthroat by 2015) of this goal. The Lake Creek Watershed has been identified by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe as a priority watershed in efforts to restore cutthroat and bull trout populations to this area of the subbasin.

WILDLIFE RESOURCES

Goal 1. Fully mitigate wildlife losses caused by hydropower development (both FCRPS and FERC dams).

Objective 1. Fully mitigate impacts associated with the development and operation of the Federal and non-federal hydropower system by 2020.

Relevant Strategies:
· Continue off-site mitigation of the identified construction and inundation losses for Albeni Falls Dam through the auspices of the Albeni Falls Interagency Work Group.
· Mitigate secondary impacts of hydropower development and operation in the Upper Columbia River Basin.

This Project will partially mitigate construction and mitigation impacts for Albeni Falls Dam and secondary impacts of hydropower development and operation in the Upper Columbia River Basin through the protection of in-kind wetland/riparian habitats.  A recent study found a wide variety of vertebrate wildlife were predators or scavengers of salmon (which in this study included cutthroat trout) (Cederholm et al. 2000).  Hydropower induced losses not only include the terrestrial habitats that were lost or altered but the losses due to the missing vector of nutrient transport between aquatic and terrestrial environments.  Mitigation for wildlife losses in the Subbasin is inextricably linked to restoration of fish populations because fish provide a source of nutrients for vertebrate wildlife and because the wetland/riparian habitats that are productive for wildlife are also productive for fish.  Successful mitigation must focus on restoring watersheds to levels sufficient to support life requisites of both fish and wildlife resources.

Goal 2 Mitigate and compensate the Coeur d'Alene Tribe for salmon and steelhead extirpation in the Upper Columbia River using a multiple resource approach.

The 1995 NWPPC F&W Program supported the restoration of native resident fish populations as partial mitigation for lost tribal resources (extirpated anadromous fish).  The restoration of riparian and wetland habitats will have significant benefit to multiple terrestrial and aquatic resources utilized by the Tribe.  This will include expected increases in waterfowl and furbearer populations, big game populations and botanical resources such as water potato and camas.

Goal 3 Protect, restore, enhance, and maintain habitats to optimize ecological security and support of the life requisites for native and desirable wildlife species.

Securing management rights to priority wildlife habitats within 20 years to meet all wildlife management targets is the second objective set forth to achieve this goal.  Key wetland/riparian habitats within the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin are identified in the Coeur d'Alene Subbasin Summary and the Lake Creek Watershed is one of these areas targeted for habitat protection and restoration.

Goal 4 Provide a harvestable surplus of selected species to meet the traditional subsistence, cultural, and religious needs of both tribal and non-tribal communities.

The critical assumption made in this proposal is that fish and wildlife species will respond to improvements in habitats. The currently degraded wetland/riparian habitats within the watershed are considered to be a limiting factor for both fish and wildlife populations (NWPPC 2000).  Improving wetland/riparian habitats will result in greater production of species important to the traditional subsistence, cultural, and religious needs of both tribal and non-tribal communities since traditional and modern game species fulfill many life requisites in riparian habitats.  

This Proposal meets the system-wide goal set by the 2000 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program that strives to achieve a healthy Columbia Basin, one that supports both human settlement and the long-term sustainability of native fish and wildlife species in native habitats where possible, while recognizing that where impacts have irrevocably changed the ecosystem, we must protect and enhance the ecosystem that remains.  Acquisition of management rights to existing and potential wetland/riparian habitats, along with measures to protect, enhance, restore and maintain those habitats will secure in perpetuity the most productive fish and wildlife habitats in the Lake Creek Watershed.
BPA - Furnished Property

No equipment purchased by this Project in the past, or identified for purchase in FY2004, exceeds BPA's capital threshold.
FY2005 Work Elements
Introduction
This Scope of Work and Budget is to continue management of the 147.6-acre Windy Bay Property.  The Planning and Design Work Elements are meant to culminate in the production of a management plan and a monitoring and evaluation plan.  Operation and Maintenance Work Elements are intended to maintain the integrity of the fish and wildlife habitats on the Windy Bay Property and allow completion of reporting requirements.  Monitoring and Evaluation Work Elements are included if the M&E Plan calls for the gathering of additional data and assessment work.  In addition to the planning and monitoring elements that surround the management of the Windy Bay Property, Planning and Design Work Elements and a Construction and Implementation Work Element were included in order to pursue additional properties in Lake Creek to address the approximately 730 residual HUs associated with the Lake Creek Land Acquisition and Enhancement Project.