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18-526: At 422 feet (129 m) in height and a length of 3,055 feet (931 m), Libby Dam created Lake Koocanusa , a reservoir which extends ninety miles (140 km) upriver with a maximum depth of about 370 feet (110 m). Forty-two miles (68 km) of it are in Canada in southeastern British Columbia . Lake Koocanusa was named for the treaty that was developed between the Kootenai Indians,

36-700: A difficult crossing from the Kananaskis River valley into the Columbia–Kootenays via the Elk in 1854. The river was labelled Elk River on John Palliser 's 1857–58 map and "Stag or Elk River" on Arrowsmith's 1862 map. Elko Dam was built by East Kootenay Power Company on the Elk River in 1924. It is a run-of-the-river dam 16 metres (52 ft) tall and 66 metres (217 ft) long. The powerhouse has two Francis turbines producing 12MW of electricity. It

54-566: A joint project of the U.S. and Canada. It is 26 km (16 mi) from Libby, Montana , also on the Kootenai River, from which the dam gets its name. Libby Dam has a Visitors Center and can be accessed by the Lake Koocanusa Scenic Byway which begins in the nearby town of Libby , Montana . The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail follows Highway 37 along the east side of the lake before crossing over

72-851: A maximum recorded discharge of 818 cubic metres per second (28,900 cu ft/s). It is a tributary of the Kootenay River , and falls within the basin of the Columbia River . The Elk River originates from the Elk Lakes near the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains . It flows through the Elk Valley in a southwesterly direction, joining the Kootenay River in Lake Koocanusa , just north of

90-515: Is a table detailing the various fish species which may be encountered on the lake. Elk River (British Columbia) The Elk River is a 220-kilometre (140 mi) long river , in the southeastern Kootenay district of the Canadian province of British Columbia . Its drainage basin is 4,450 square kilometres (1,720 sq mi) in area. Its mean discharge is approximately 60 cubic metres per second (2,100 cu ft/s), with

108-399: Is about 16 kilometres (10 mi) upriver from the Elk's confluence with Lake Koocanusa. It is operated by BC Hydro . The Elk River Valley is home to five large open-pit coal mines, supplying a third of the world's steel-making coal. For many years increased selenium , phosphate and nitrate levels have been linked to the continued expansion of the mining. Selenium levels continue to exceed

126-469: Is designed with a selective withdrawal system that allows water passage from various levels of Lake Koocanusa, which allows the operators to moderate water temperatures downstream. The river continues northwest into Idaho , past Bonners Ferry , to Kootenay Lake in Canada and joins the Columbia River . Libby Dam's powerhouse contains five turbines and is capable of generating 600 megawatts. The electricity

144-578: Is managed by the Bonneville Power Administration and services eight states: Montana, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming, California, Utah, Oregon, and Nevada. The money earned from electricity sales goes to the United States Treasury to repay the cost of building and operating Libby Dam. President Gerald Ford was among the five thousand in attendance at the opening in 1975, along with Senator Mike Mansfield ,

162-527: Is now covered by the lake. What was once a barrier to river travel, Jennings Canyon is now inundated by the lake. The Elk River joins the Kootenay River in the northern part of Lake Koocanusa, within Canadian territory. Lake Koocanusa was named in a contest won by Alice Beers of Rexford, Montana . The name is a portmanteau of Kootenai River , Canada , and USA . Lake Koocanusa was built as

180-505: The Canadian government , and the U.S. government to build the dam and form the reservoir. It was the fourth dam constructed under the Columbia River Treaty . The Kootenai River is the third largest tributary to the Columbia River , contributing almost twenty percent of the total water in the lower Columbia. Libby Dam has the capacity to hold back 4,980,000 acre-feet (6.14 km) of water. The consulting architect for

198-700: The Libby Dam in 1972. The Dam was formally dedicated by President Gerald Ford on August 24, 1975. The lake is formed north of the dam, reaching 48 miles (77 km) to the Canada–United States border and 42 miles (68 km) further into British Columbia. The lake holds 13% of the water in the Columbia River system. The town of Rexford was moved, as well as the Great Northern Railway line. The town of Waldo, British Columbia

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216-646: The 95% of the selenium coming into Lake Koocanusa originates from the Elk River—"which has been contaminated by current and historic coal mining in the Elk Valley." The average selenium levels in Lake Koocanusa were 1 part per billion. Montana has established new standards for selenium—0.8 parts per billion. Because of the high bioaccumulation of selenium in fish, excessive levels of selenium in an aquatic ecosystem has implications for human health. In

234-756: The British Columbia- Montana border. Its waters ultimately join the Columbia River and flow towards the Pacific Ocean . The Elk River runs through the communities of Elkford , Sparwood , Hosmer , Fernie , and Elko . David Thompson travelled along the Elk River in 1811, and called it the Stag River. James Sinclair 's second settlement expedition to the Pacific Northwest from the Red River Colony made

252-604: The Lake Koocanusa Bridge and climbing up Webb Mountain. According to a March 8, 2021 article in The Narwhal , concerns have been raised about selenium pollution leaching from Teck Resources ' Elk Valley open pit coal mines' waste rock, which is upstream from the lake system. A September 24, 2020 Montana Department of Environmental Quality presentation to the Board of Environmental Review Meeting, reported that

270-604: The guidelines for human health. The selenium pollution has heavily impacted the cutthroat trout in the river, which suffer from deformation of their gills . Teck Resources , as the operator of the coal mines that are the source of the selenium pollution, is working to implement selenium management strategies. They operate the West Line Creek Active Water Treatment Plant. British Columbia provincial officials agreed to involve to International Joint Commission in 2024. While tribes in

288-593: The majority leader, and Governor Thomas Judge . At his first official event after a two-week vacation in Vail , Colorado , Ford "threw the switch" with Donald Macdonald , Canadian minister of energy . Lake Koocanusa Lake Koocanusa ( KUU - KAN - USA ) is a reservoir in British Columbia ( Canada ) and Montana ( United States ) formed by the damming of the Kootenai River by

306-522: The project was Paul Thiry of Seattle , and the commission for its large granite bas-relief was awarded to sculptor Albert Wein by competition. In order to make way for the dam, the town of Rexford was relocated and a new Flathead Railroad Tunnel was dug. Construction began in 1966, and the reservoir was available for filling in mid-1973. The dam is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and at full capacity, it can pass over 160,000 cubic feet per second (4,500 m/s) of water. The dam

324-432: The spring of 2020, Teck Resources, had "reported a dramatic decline in adult westslope cutthroat trout in Elk Valley waterways closest to its mines". Since 2015, British Columbia and Montana have agreed to adopt aligned standards for selenium levels by 2020. Montana's has been in force since the fall of 2020, but British Columbia has not aligned their standards yet. The lake supports a wide variety of fish species. Below

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