Lake Roosevelt Administrative History

Air Quality

Concern about air quality in the Lake Roosevelt area began to increase in the 1970s, after passage of the federal Clean Air Act. The Washington Department of Ecology is responsible for monitoring and enforcing air quality standards and regulations. Most of LARO is classified as a Class II area; the Spokane Reservation is a Class I area, which means it has more stringent standards. LARO's air quality is affected by pollution emissions both inside and outside the NRA - smelter plants and pulp and paper mills are the primary sources - and by prevailing meteorological conditions. The pollutants of concern are sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and suspended particulate matter. [94]

The main area of concern for air quality is Kettle Falls, where two industrial plants are located. The Boise Cascade plywood mill periodically violated air quality standards for particulates. Although the company suggested that the ash fall from their plant was no worse that that generated by park visitors' campfires, LARO personnel reported the ash falls and in 1991 the Washington Department of Ecology required that the plant install updated pollution control equipment. This significantly reduced the emissions from the plant. [96]

The other plant in the Kettle Falls area is a forty-megawatt waste-wood-fired plant constructed by Washington Water Power in 1981. For the first few years of operation, ash emitted from the plant fell on LARO facilities. But operators reworked the emissions system and brought the plant into compliance with emission standards. [97]

In 1994, KVA Resources announced that it planned to construct a gas-fired electric generating facility east of Creston. Cooling water for the plant would come from wells just inside LARO. Park staff and Regional Office staff tracked the proposal and provided extensive written comments regarding air and water quality standards. Working directly with KVA representatives, they expressed concerns about visibility and about the potential of acid deposition within the NRA to harm resources there. This plant was not built, largely due to the company's inability to get the rights to the water needed for the proposed water-cooled facility. [98]

Current air quality concerns for the Lake Roosevelt area include emissions from Cominco and wood smoke. LARO staff would like to develop a list of air quality-related values, to identify scenic vistas, and to establish a visibility goal for LARO based on park management objectives. They hope to identify and document resources that are particularly sensitive to air pollution. [99]

Aircraft Overflights

In the 1980s, the Park Service became concerned about aircraft overflights and their impacts on national park units. The airspace above LARO is on the flight path for military training flights, which consist of approximately ten flights a month for much of the year. Park personnel expressed concern about the noise intrusion on recreation, interpretive programs, and peregrine falcons. Overflights are no longer a significant concern, however, because the source of most of the flights, a unit at Whidbey Air Naval Station in western Washington, has been dismantled. The noise from personal watercraft is of more recent concern and has not been formally evaluated to date. Existing regulations specify noise restrictions for all boats, including personal watercraft. [100]

Conclusion

LARO staff have been involved in many aspects of natural resources management over the decades. In the 1970s, natural resources management was still a collateral duty of rangers. Since then, more funding and staffing has been provided, with some support coming from outside entities. Management issues include the sport fishery, wildlife mitigation projects, forest and noxious weeds management, and water quality and pollution.

Over the years, interagency coordination of fisheries on Lake Roosevelt has sometimes been fragmented. Occasionally, LARO's jurisdiction over fish and wildlife has been questioned. In 1990, LARO requested a solicitor's opinion on the jurisdiction between the state of Washington and the Park Service on fish and wildlife management, but the requested opinion was not written. In 1992, the Park Service and the state agreed in a formal Memorandum of Understanding to continue cooperative efforts to manage, protect, and enhance the fisheries and wildlife resources of mutual concern, with consultation prior to implementing research, plans, programs, or regulations affecting fish and wildlife. [101]

By the 1990s, LARO personnel felt the need for a Lake Roosevelt Fisheries Management Plan to better define its role in the complicated waters of fisheries management on Lake Roosevelt. Such a plan, recently funded by BPA and coordinated by the STI, will address long-standing issues as well as relatively new issues such as the net-pen program and fishing derbies, helping to clarify the responsibilities of the various entities involved. This is an on-going, multi-year project; LARO's role is simply to provide logistical support. [102]