Lolo Creek Permanent Weir and Fish Trapping Facility (DOE/EA 1895)
Clearwater County, ID

• PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

  
  BPA is proposing to fund the replacement of an existing 10 year old seasonal fish weir with a permanent weir designed to operate safely over a range of flows. A weir is a fence or other structure placed across the creek to block passage for the purpose of catching and retaining fish. The weir will be used to monitor federally-listed Snake River steelhead and for the collection of spring Chinook salmon adults to support on-going supplementation programs in the watershed. Due to icing in the winter and high flows in the spring, the existing seasonal weir cannot be safely deployed during the typical adult steelhead migration period. After construction, the Nez Perce tribe would operate and maintain the weir.
  
  Lolo Creek has been preliminarily determined to be suitable for Congressional designation into the Wild and Scenic (W&S) River system, and is considered one of the best whitewater kayaking runs in Idaho. As such, the proposed permanent weir would be designed to maintain the free-flowing nature of Lolo Creek, and the site would be developed to accommodate safe use of the site by kayakers.
  
  

• CURRENT STATUS:

  
  BPA has prepared a Preliminary Environmental Assessment (PEA) and is available. Based on the comments received and the analysis in the final EA, BPA will either prepare a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and decide whether to proceed with the proposed project; or BPA will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement if there is the potential for significant environmental impacts. If BPA chooses to proceed with the proposed project, construction would begin in summer 2013.
  
  The weir is located on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Cottonwood Field Office. For the past ten years, the Nez Perce Tribe has operated the seasonally placed weir through a right-of-way granted by the BLM. The BLM?s proposed action is to amend the existing right-of-way grant (IDI-37057) to the Nez Perce Tribe for continued operation of the facilities. The BLM has a Draft FONSI for this action which is available on their BLM NEPA Project Summary website.
  
  

• COMMENTS:

  
  You may submit comments to BPA online at: www.bpa.gov/comment; return the enclosed comment form via mail to: Bonneville Power Administration, Public Affairs Office - DKE-7, P.O. Box 14428, Portland, OR, 97293-4428; or by fax to 503-230-4019. Please refer to "Lolo Creek Rebuild Project" in your comments and submit them by March 1, 2013. If you have other questions or comments please do not hesitate to call BPA toll free at 1-800-622-4519. BPA will post all comments we receive in their entirety on the Lolo Creek Permanent Weir Fish Trapping Facility comments page.
  
  

• CONTACT:

  
  For further information on this project, please contact:
  
  Dan Gambetta, Environmental Protection Specialist, Bonneville Power Administration - KEC-4, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, OR 97208-3621; toll-free telephone 800-282-3713; direct telephone 503-230-3493; fax 503-230-5699; or e-mail dagambetta@bpa.gov.
  
  

• DOCUMENTS:

  
  PEA Public Letter (32Kb pdf) (01/29/13)
  PEA Comment Form (27Kb pdf) (01/29/13)
  PEA (14.3MB pdf) (01/29/13)
  Public Scoping Letter - Extended Comment Period (34Kb pdf) (10/31/11)
  Comment Form - Extended Period (13Kb pdf) (10/31/11)
  Public Scoping Letter (31Kb pdf) (09/29/11)
  Comment Form (13Kb pdf) (09/29/11)
  Project Vicinity Map (1.5MB pdf) (September 2011)