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State engineers flag updates and urgent fixes at Baker Lake dams after five‑year evaluation
Summary
DNRC and consulting engineers told Fallon County commissioners that Baker Lake’s dams perform overall but need updated EAPs, new inundation/breach analyses, vegetation removal and geotechnical work to meet modern dam safety rules; the county agreed to prioritize spillway and debris removal before winter.
A state review and independent five‑year evaluation of Baker Lake’s upper and lower dams found the facilities are operating but lacking analysis and documentation needed to demonstrate safety under rare extreme events, Fallon County commissioners were told Wednesday.
Sam Johnson, regional engineer with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), said a change in dam‑safety rules had increased emphasis on the engineering evaluation that must accompany inspections. “We had a rule change that ... made it much more specific of what was required in the five‑year evaluation,” Johnson said, noting his review sees work to be done beyond routine inspection.
Consultant Benjamin (BJ) Cove, who carried out the field inspection and report, told the commission the dam and spillway “look pretty good” on site but that engineering analyses are outdated or incomplete for flooding, seepage and stability. Cove highlighted urgent items: update and combine Emergency Action Plans and inundation mapping, clear vegetation and debris from upstream and downstream of the box culvert and spillway, and install reservoir level instrumentation. He also recommended updated hydrology and breach analyses and a full geotechnical stability study to quantify risks from seepage and slope performance.
County officials explained that for roughly 15 years the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had restricted work at the lake after earlier shoreline work; the county received an administrative order and was only recently released in January of this year. That constraint, officials said, limited maintenance such as clearing cattails and cleaning the spillway. Commissioner Kevin Braun told the consultant the commission plans to begin clearing the spillway immediately and to prepare documentation for DNRC.
DNRC staff and consultants discussed funding pathways including grant opportunities through the agency’s dam‑safety programs to support geotechnical analyses and instrumentation. The commission agreed to pursue short‑term cleanup (vegetation and debris) before winter and to follow up with DNRC on a prioritized timeline for engineering work and grant applications.
The DNRC representative said updates to inundation maps and population‑at‑risk assessments should follow once reservoir stage/storage data and topographic surveys are compiled, and that such work will inform any necessary formal mitigation or larger capital projects.
