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Reappointed Lake commissioner highlights Priest Lake work, urges federal action on Pend Oreille operations
Summary
John Ford Elsesser, reappointed to the Lake Commission, told the Senate Resources & Environment Committee he and the commission have advocated for a $5 million Priest Lake dam rebuild and are pressing federal agencies to restore a full recreational season on Lake Pend Oreille.
John Ford Elsesser, a long-serving member of the Lake Commission from Priest River, told the Senate Resources & Environment Committee that he supports preservation and operational changes aimed at protecting Priest Lake and Lake Pend Oreille.
Elsesser, who said he was first appointed around February 2003 and is now serving a seventh appointment, described the commission as an advisory body that has advocated for infrastructure and erosion-control projects. “We don't have the power to take specific action, but we have, many of the projects we have had have been advocated before by us,” Elsesser said.
The commission successfully pushed for a roughly $5,000,000 rebuild of the Priest Lake dam and work on the thoroughfare that provides boat access to Upper Priest Lake, Elsesser said. He told senators the rebuilt dam performed well during a dry year and that keeping an additional six inches of storage improved conditions on the Priest River compared with earlier dry years.
Elsesser said the commission is also pursuing an economic study of Lake Pend Oreille conducted by the University of Idaho and funded in part by the commission; he said the study is expected to be complete in July. He identified the Army Corps of Engineers' management of Albany Falls Dam as the principal remaining obstacle to restoring the full recreational season Congress promised in 1948, saying that the lake currently achieves, at best, a three-month season in many years.
The commission has also worked with Idaho Fish and Game, the Bonneville Power Administration and Avista to stabilize up to 15 acres a year of erosion on the Clark Fork delta entering Lake Pend Oreille, Elsesser said. He expressed cautious optimism that state-level support and changes in the federal administration could produce a better operational outcome for the lake.
No committee vote occurred at the meeting on Elsesser's reappointment; the chair said a vote would be held at a later meeting.
