﻿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 (DNRC) in 1980 to build a hydroelectric dam and generating plant, known 

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

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

 investigation in the project area. 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 DNRC 1979 for a 

 study plan). This study wouLd provide a 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 FalLs wildlife monitoring study (September 2, 1979, through September 

 1, 1980). The area monitored in that 6tudy 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. 



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