HABITATS OF THE STUDY AREA 



THE KOOTENAI RIVER AND KOOTENAI FALLS 



The Kootenai River originates in southeast British Columbia, flows 

 south into Montana, then west into Idaho and turns north to enter Canada 

 once again. Kootenai Falls is located in Lincoln County between the 

 northwest Montana communities of Libby and Troy, 48 km (30 mi) down 

 river from Libby Dam. Libby Dam impounds 80.5 km (50 mi) or approximately 

 half of the Kootenai River in the state and backs water into Canada for 

 another 80.5 km (50 mi). Currently, Libby Dam is a baseload facility, 

 but a proposal has been made to convert the dam to a peak load facility 

 by employment of four additional generators. Conversion to a power- 

 peaking dam would require construction of a reregulating dam to avoid 

 flooding of downstream settlements. The Libby Additional Units and 

 Reregulating Dam (LAURD) would impound another twenty percent of the 

 free-flowing Kootenai River in Montana. The Kootenai Falls Dam would be 

 located approximately 32 km (20 mi) below the proposed reregulating dam. 



Kootenai Falls is the last major falls on a Montana river not yet 

 dammed or impounded. The Falls is composed of a complex series of 

 cascades falling over shelf rock which occur between and on either side 

 of three islands located in mid-river. The Falls mark the entry to the 

 rugged 1.9 km (1.2 mi) Kootenai Canyon. Water depths in the canyon are 

 as much as 30 m (99 ft), providing habitat for tne only white sturgeon 

 fishery within the state (Graham 1979a). Even though the Falls cannot 

 be seen from Highway 2, the area receives up to 55,000 visitor days of 

 use per year (NLI 1978), making it a popular natural scenic attraction. 



The all-time low flow recorded on the Kootenai was 28 cms (1000 cfs). 

 Historic flows usually ranged from 112 to 1288 cms (4000 to 45,000 cfs), 

 depending upon the season with highest flows during spring runoff. With 

 installation of Libby Dam, seasonal flow regimes were reversed and flows 

 now range from 56 to 560 cms (2,000 to 20,000 cfs). Northern Lights, 

 Inc. (1978) proposes to divert all but 21 cms (750 cfs) for power generation. 



PRELIMINARY COVER AND TERRAIN CLASSIFICATION 



A map (scale = 1:24,000) of forest habitat types (Pfister et aJL 1977) 

 for the area, provided by the Kootenai National Forest (Olson-ElTiott I 

 Associates 1976), served as the basis for more detailed field mapping of 

 cover and terrain types within the study area (Figure 3). Four natural 

 cover types were recognized: timber, shrub, grass, and rock (or bare). 

 Eight terrain types were mapped on 7.5- minute topographic maps, using 

 ocular estimates and infrared color photographs. The following four 

 terms describe rocky terrain types: bluffs, benches with rocky drop- 

 offs, often in step-like series; cl iffs , rock faces one or more meters 

 in height; talus , masses of shale or boulders, generally not capable of 

 supporting vegetation to climax stage due to instability or poor edaphic 

 features; broken, those areas which are not bluffs, cliffs, or talus. 



