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Senate committee hears gubernatorial reappointment of John Ford Elsesser to lake advisory panel
Summary
John Ford Elsesser, reappointed to a gubernatorial advisory committee on Priest Lake and Lake Pend Oreille, described recent projects including a $5 million Priest Lake dam rebuild and a University of Idaho economic study of Lake Pend Oreille; the committee deferred a vote to its next meeting.
The Senate committee on natural resources heard the gubernatorial reappointment of John Ford Elsesser, who described his long service on an advisory committee to the governor and legislature on Priest Lake and Lake Pend Oreille watershed issues.
Elsesser told senators he was first appointed in February 2003 and that the committee’s role is advisory: “We don’t have the power to take specific action, but we have … advocated for substantial improvements,” he said, citing recent work on the Priest Lake dam and the thoroughfare to Upper Priest Lake.
The committee heard that the commission pushed for a roughly $5,000,000 rebuild of the Priest Lake dam and improvements to the thoroughfare, projects Elsesser said were completed in time to help sustain lakes and rivers through a dry runoff year. He also described ongoing erosion-control work on the Clark Fork delta into Lake Pend Oreille supported by Fish and Game, the Bonneville Power Administration and Avista.
Elsesser said the commission has partnered with lawmakers and the University of Idaho on a joint economic study of Lake Pend Oreille’s impact on Bonner County and the broader North Idaho community; he said the study is funded 50% by the university and has a completion target of July (this year).
On lake levels, Elsesser described a long-standing dispute over operations of the Albany Falls Dam (which controls Lake Pend Oreille levels) and said the commission hopes to work with the governor’s office, the attorney general and federal partners to secure what he called “an honest, full recreational season” authorized by Congress in 1948. He characterized the commission’s role as stewardship and advocacy rather than regulatory authority.
Committee members asked no substantive questions during the presentation. The chairman said the committee will vote on the reappointment at its next meeting.
