Lake Roosevelt Administrative History

Fluctuating Lake Levels

When Grand Coulee Dam created Lake Roosevelt, the United States signed a treaty with Canada confirming that the level of Lake Roosevelt would never rise above the elevation of 1,290 feet. Each year, however, the lake level drops well below full pool, principally during winter and spring drawdowns. This fluctuation in the lake level has presented significant challenges to LARO staff over the years, particularly since the 1980s when drawdowns sometimes have occurred during the summer season. Fluctuating lake levels affect recreation, industry, water quality, aquatic ecology, shoreline erosion, cultural resources, and water supplies.

Many competing interests are factors in determining the reservoir's water level. These include power generation, irrigation, flood control, and, more recently, recreation, fish, and wildlife. In 1948, after extensive regional flooding, the official purposes of Grand Coulee Dam expanded to include flood control. This enabled water managers to draw the lake level down in anticipation of flooding; until the 1960s, however, only the upper thirty feet could be used for this purpose. Reclamation prefers to keep the reservoir full to maximize power production and irrigation potential. The filling and release of Lake Roosevelt is controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation (irrigation), the Corps of Engineers (flood control), the Bonneville Power Administration (power generation), and several other interests (fisheries mitigation). These agencies base decisions on the various authorized uses of the reservoir, annual weather conditions, and thermal plant operations. The National Park Service has no decision-making power over the level of Lake Roosevelt. LARO prefers an elevation of 1,288 feet during the recreation season because this slight drawdown from full pool leaves a small band for retaining stranded debris on shore. It also makes it easier to beach boats and reach the shore from the water. [57]

Current firm constraints on the level of Lake Roosevelt stipulate certain conditions. First, the lake's maximum level is always 1,290 feet, while the minimum level is 1,208 feet except under exceptional circumstances. Second, the maximum draft in twenty-four hours is 1.5 feet to reduce landslide potential. Third, the minimum pool elevation by May 31 is 1,240 feet to provide safe and efficient irrigation pumping to Banks Lake. The Corps and Reclamation signed formal flood-control rule curves in 1978 as part of the Columbia River Treaty. These are used in determining the lake level to store water to meet power generation demands; prevent downstream flooding; and protect anadromous fish by limiting downstream spills that raise nitrogen levels in the water and lead to gas-bubble disease. Increased flows are required April 15 to June 15 for smolt out-migration (this is known as the water budget), which can delay filling the lake until late June or early July. [58]

During the 1940s, when the Problem No. 26 committee was putting together the preliminary plans for recreation on the new reservoir, the various agencies were confident that the reservoir would consistently be at full pool, 1,290 feet, from June to October of each year. All special use permits included a clause stating that the water level of Lake Roosevelt could fluctuate a maximum of eighty feet. The winter drawdown was expected to be to 1,240 feet, perhaps occasionally down as low as 1,210 feet. In fact, from 1941-1951 the drawdown did not exceed thirty feet, and from 1952-1965 it stayed close to forty feet each winter. [59]

Kettle Falls Marina during drawdown, May 1983. Photo courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Grand Coulee (USBR Archives P222 117 61732, 5-11-83).

In 1950 and 1951, the Roosevelt Lake Log Owners Association complained to politicians and agencies about the difficulties that fluctuating lake levels caused its members. The thirteen firms depending on Lake Roosevelt for log storage and transportation employed over two thousand workers. The drawdowns, which the association believed were due to "experimental" flood control, affected the Kettle Falls water supply, the few LARO beaches that had been established, log dumping sites, transportation and storage facilities, fire protection, transportation of logs on the lake, and docking facilities. The association reported that 70 percent of all operations on the lake required an elevation of 1,274 feet or higher. It was agreed that either the Park Service (on weekdays) or the Corps of Engineers (on weekends) would notify the association of any anticipated drawdowns that might seriously affect their operations. [60]

Under the terms of the Columbia River Treaty signed in 1961, Canada agreed to provide reservoir storage in exchange for a share of the resulting power benefits at the eleven downstream U.S. power-generating plants. The U.S. also agreed to pay Canada for water storage that helped with flood control in the United States. Canada then built three storage dams and reservoirs to hold flooding spring waters for gradual release later in the year. The new upstream reservoirs were expected to reduce the need for seasonal drawdowns at Lake Roosevelt, but this did not materialize because of the construction of the third powerhouse at Grand Coulee Dam that began in the 1960s. [61]

The third powerhouse affected the elevation of Lake Roosevelt on both a temporary and long-term basis. During the construction of the new plant, Reclamation drew the level of Lake Roosevelt down 130 feet in 1969 and 133 feet in 1974 to allow for dry excavations. Crowds came to view the re-emerged Kettle Falls each time. Since completion of the third powerhouse, Grand Coulee Dam has been used to cover peak loads rather than base loads. This "peaking" caused the reservoir levels to fluctuate more than in previous years. The normal maximum fluctuation in water level each year is now eighty-two feet, although the average is lower. In a typical year, the reservoir is drawn down from January through June in preparation for spring runoff and peak seasonal power demand. It reaches its lowest level during April, and it is generally at full pool between July and December. The Kettle Falls Chamber of Commerce initiated a campaign in the 1960s to maintain high summer lake levels on behalf of recreation on Lake Roosevelt, but this was a losing battle. The drawdowns met complex needs throughout the Columbia River Basin, making their modification unlikely to meet the recreational requirements of one reservoir in the system. [63]

LARO's original recreation facilities were not designed for the large drawdowns that began in the late 1960s. By 1971, however, LARO staff had modified management objectives to include the goal of making launch ramps and docks at selected sites useable during drawdowns of up to fifty feet below full pool. Park staff regularly submitted Project Construction Proposals for extending or building new launch ramps that would be useable at lower elevations. Two new low-water ramps were built in 1974, but few others were funded in the 1970s. LARO staff planned that eventually all the docks would be floating. Until then, drawdowns of just three feet had serious negative impacts on recreation. In 1975, for example, only the floating docks at Spring Canyon were useable between 1,285.5 and 1,288 feet. At that elevation, only four launch ramps were functional, many swim areas could not be used, and none of the fuel docks could be reached by boat. After a public meeting in 1976, Reclamation and the Park Service worked together on a plan to build additional boat ramps and floating gas facilities at various places within LARO. [64]

In the mid-1980s, most of LARO's facilities still had not been adapted to lower summer lake levels. At 1,270 feet, about half the launch ramps were not operational. Below about 1,235 feet, no ramps were useable and most water recreation stopped. Designated swim beaches could not be easily used, and some became dangerous. Some campground water systems were left high and dry, and boat-in campgrounds became unusable. Courtesy docks were stranded on dry land at elevations below 1,280 feet, and many boat harbors could not be reached. Log booms for swim beaches, mooring buoys, and navigational aids had to be moved. Concessionaires' marinas had to be repositioned, making them inconvenient to use and operate. [65]

Typical water levels of Lake Roosevelt over the course of an average year in the 1990s. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, Southern Part, map prepared by Northwest Map Service, Spokane, 1996.)

An unexpected drawdown during the recreation season sometimes damages boats and other facilities. Visitation drops, particularly when the media report on the drawdown, and concessionaires suffer economic hardship. This happened in the summers of 1984 and 1985. In July 1984, the lake level dropped to 1,277 feet despite continuing predictions of stable or rising lake levels. This unexpected drawdown was caused by a combination of high power demand, weekend shutdowns of Hanford Nuclear Plant, and poor forecasting. In 1985, the lake was at 1,267 feet in mid-June and it did not reach a pool elevation of 1,288 feet until after September. The concessionaires at Kettle Falls and Keller Ferry were severely impacted, suffering both damaged boats and lowered visitation. [66]

LARO tried to deal with the 1984 and 1985 extreme drawdowns in several ways. Park Service staff established a toll-free telephone number that provided daily lake levels and predictions. They also produced a video with Reclamation illustrating how lake fluctuations impair their ability to serve the public; this led to meetings with BPA in 1986 and the start of an information project. Maintenance staff did extensive work parkwide in 1985 to keep facilities operational, moving swimming areas, adding protective log booms, relocating courtesy docks, installing additional steps and ramps, and moving buoys. LARO also installed elevation markers at various locations around the lake to aid boaters. [67]

Reclamation made some changes in the early 1990s that somewhat improved the fluctuating lake level situation on Lake Roosevelt. In 1990, a new minimum-lake-level limit of 1,220 feet replaced the earlier limit of 1,208 feet, effective except in critical flood-control situations. In addition, Reclamation instituted a costly hard constraint of 1,285 feet by July 1. The agency followed this in 1991 by listing recreation as an "A" priority for the first time ever. [68]

In 1986, the DSC did a full engineering and cost study of the extensive modifications required to make LARO's facilities at twenty-eight developed areas usable by the public at elevations down to 1,270 feet. The DSC found items most affected by the new design level were swim areas and marine access to developed areas. The one-time retrofitting and redesign cost was estimated to be approximately $1.3 million, primarily for labor and materials for new boom floats, extended launch ramps, and revised anchorages. In addition, annual maintenance costs would increase. LARO Assistant Superintendent Kelly Cash put together a project proposal for congressional funding. Then, because BPA was identified as the agency responsible for the drawdowns necessitating the retrofit, the BPA congressional liaison in Washington, D.C., took the proposal to Rep. Tom Foley and others. The resulting funding helped widen and extend seven launch ramps (generally down to 1,267 feet), and built six new ramps in 1993. By 1997, all LARO launch ramps were useable down to 1,282 feet, and some went as low as 1,229 feet. [69]

One of the causes of low summer elevations since 1984 has been the use of water from Lake Roosevelt to help flush anadromous smolt (salmon and steelhead) toward the Pacific Ocean. Starting in 1984, three million acre-feet of Lake Roosevelt water was dedicated annually for spring and early summer salmon flushes. Following the passage of the Endangered Species Act and the 1993 inclusion of Snake River chinook, sockeye, and coho salmon on the endangered species list, an additional 3.5 million acre-feet was dedicated to the flushing project. In July 1994, a drawdown to help anadromous fish caused the lake level to drop below 1,274 feet through early August. As a result, the concessionaire's marina at Kettle Falls had to move its rental docks out of the harbor for the first time during the visitor use season. In 1995, a Biological Opinion allowed as much as ten feet of water to be drafted from Lake Roosevelt, generally in August, to augment flows for downstream fisheries. LARO's 1998 draft GMP noted, "Recreation and fisheries within the national recreation area will continue to be a secondary consideration for the overall operation of the reservoir." [70]