Project Goal

Protect and/or restore riparian and wetland habitats within the Pend Oreille River Watershed to partially mitigate for wildlife habitat losses due to the construction of Albeni Falls Dam while promoting healthy, self-sustaining wildlife populations capable of supporting traditional tribal uses.

The construction of Albeni Falls Dam resulted in the loss of over 28,000 Habitat Units in wetland and riparian habitat types.  These losses occurred exclusively within the Kalispel Ceded Lands.  Through the acquisition of property rights (fee title to management agreements), property protection, and habitat restoration, the Kalispel Tribe is continuing to mitigate these losses. This project is one of many aimed at partially mitigating the habitat losses at Albeni Falls Dam through the Northwest Power Act and Northwest Power Planning Council's Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program as funded by the Bonneville Power Administration.  

The 2006 contract period will incorporate new information that becomes available during this contract period into the knowledge base developed in the previous contract year. The 2006 SOW was designed to allow for maintenance of existing habitat value while quantifying that value through the implementation of the Albeni Falls Wildlife Mitigation Monitoring and Evaluation Plan. The Project Area lies just north of the Kalispel Indian Reservation, which is in the eastern portion of the Pend Oreille Subbasin of the Intermountain Province of the Columbia River Basin.  The project lies within sections 17, 18, 19 and 20 in T34N, R44E (Jared Quadrangle) all within Pend Oreille County, Washington.  The Project Area covers approximately 600 acres.