﻿INTRODUCTION 



Northern Lights, Inc. (NLI), a rural electric cooperative based in Sandpoint, 

 Idaho, submitted en epplication to the Montana Department of Natural Resources and 

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

 a6 the Kootenai River Hydroelectric Project, in the Kootenei Falls area of Lincoln 

 County, Montane. In 1978, NLI contracted with DNRC to conduct e baseline wildlife 

 investigation in the project erea. The results of thet 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 

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

 DNRC in October 1979 to monitor wildlife in the study erea (see DNRC 1979 for e 

 study plan]. This study was designed to 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 Conservetion issue 

 a certificate for the project at the Kootenai Falls site. 



The first ennual report (DNRC 1981a) documented results from the first year of 

 the Kootenai Fall6 wildlife monitoring study (September 2, 1979, through September 

 1, 1980]. The area monitored in thet 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. 



