INTRODUCTION 



Northern Lights, Inc. (NLI], a rural eLectric cooperative based in Sandpoint, 

 Idaho, submitted an application to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and 

 Conservation (ONRC) in 1980 to bui Id a hydroelectric dam and generating plant, known 

 88 the Kootenai River Hydroelectric Project, in the Kootenai Falls area of Lincoln 

 County, Montana. In 1978, NLI contracted with ONRC to conduct a baseline wildlife 

 investigation in the project erea. The results of that study, completed in 

 September 1979, were published later that year (DNRC 1979). 



To keep the wildlife data base current and to determine the nature of 

 year-to-year variations in wildlife use of the project area, NLI contracted with 

 DNRC in October 1979 to monitor wildlife in the study area (see ONRC 1979 for a 

 study plan]. This study was designed to provide e data base for documenting 

 project-related impacts and for determining the success of mitigation and 

 compensation programs, should the Board of Natural Resources and Conservation issue 

 a certificate for the project at the Kootenai Falls site. 



The first annual report (DNRC 1981a] documented results from the first year of 

 the Kootenai Fells wildlife monitoring study (September 2, 1979, through September 

 1, 1980]. The area monitored in that study was the same as the area inventoried 

 during the original baseline study (DNRC 1979, pp. 2-3], although some surveys also 

 were conducted along U.S. Highway 2 between Libby and Troy. 



