The denial of a prospective dam application Thursday was considered a “big win” for area agencies who aim at protecting Bonneville cutthroat trout along what is considered the “last free-flowing” stretch of the Bear River.
Kevin Lewis, the Idaho Rivers United Conservation director, said a settlement in 2002 put millions of dollars toward habitat restoration efforts and that the building of a proposed 108-foot-high dam in the Oneida Narrows of the Bear River by the Twin Lakes Canal Co. would destroy that work.
“It’s taken us eight years,” Lewis said. “It is a very involved, complex process. There’s already an existing hydropower system this would have been on PacifiCorp property. ... It would destroy the settlement agreement.”
The Twin Lakes application was denied by the Idaho Department of Water Resources Thursday following a formal hearing held in March.
The Twin Lakes Canal Co. filed an application with the agency in 2007 to build a 700-foot-long, 108-foot-high dam in Oneida Narrows near Preston in eastern Idaho. The proposed dam would have created a reservoir with a surface area spanning more than half a mile.
The river already has three hydroelectric dams operated by PacifiCorp Energy, and the proposal for a fourth attracted vigorous opposition from anglers, recreationists and environmentalists.
Andrea Santarsiere of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said the conservation group was happy with the decision involving the last free-flowing section of the Bear River that’s accessible to the public,
“We commend the department for recognizing that keeping the river free-flowing has benefits to the imperiled native Bonneville cutthroat trout, wildlife, recreational use. All of that would have been lost if the dam went forward,” Santarsiere said.
Officials with the Twin Lakes Canal Co. didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The company wanted to build the dam because it typically doesn’t have enough water to irrigate all the land of its shareholders.
Lewis believes if the decisions stands, it would set the management of the Bear River for the next 30-40 years.
He said the section of river is home to the migratory Bonneville cutthroat trout and where the dam was planned to be built would stand on the trouts’ critical habitat.
“(Bonneville cutthroat trout) are bigger and migrate through the systems and provide some diverse genetic material and primarily hang out in Bear River Narrows,” Lewis said.
The narrows are located southeast of Preston.
PacifiCorp Energy initially threw its support behind the proposed dam but backed away from the project after determining a new dam would conflict with its existing hydroelectric license.
The Bear River drains an area of 6,900 square miles in southwestern Wyoming, northern Utah and southeastern Idaho, carrying about a million acre-feet of water a year into the Great Salt Lake.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.