Author: SPORT FISHING INST WASHINGTON DC.

Publisher:

Published: 1981

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13:

The Dworshak Project, located on the North Fork of the Clearwater River, in Clearwater County, Idaho, was authorized in Public Law 87-874, approved October 23, 1962. Navigation, power and recreation are contributors to the project purposes. Construction began on the 86.3 km (53.6 mi) long lake early in 1963, and the dam was closed on September 27, 1971. The project includes a 6,644 ha (16,417 ac) lake (at full pool) and 13,161 ha (32,521 ac) of fee lands located above the normal full pool. The project-associated wildlife habitat loss of 6,071 ha (15,000 ac) was expected to create serious losses to wildlife populations. Mitigation planning emphasized winter browse development primarily to benefit elk. An early recommendation for fee acquisition of 4,856 ha (12,000 ac) was later altered to a request for fee acquisition of only 1,059 ha (2,616 ac). All remaining elk mitigation needs were to be realized via management agreements. By 1966, the planners agreed that acquisition of at least a 2,024 ha (5,000 ac) 'hard-core' area of elk winter range was required. The management agreements on approximately 14,165 ha (35,000 ac) proved unsatisfactory to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) and in 1972, the year the lake filled, the agency resubmitted a formerly proposed (1960) request for fee acquisition of lands located on Smith Ridge.