BOCC to participate in stream project

WALLACE — Bob Burke with the Kootenai-Shoshone Soil and Water Conservation District met with the Shoshone Board of County Commissioners recently to discuss and consider a joint state of Idaho 319 Water Quality Grant with Shoshone County.

During his presentation, Burke discussed three different river improvement projects along the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River — all with the goal of minimizing scour and erosion, stabilizing banks, and protecting public roadways and private property.

The first site, located 0.4 miles up the Old River Road from the Little North Fork, where the river channel has split to west and is impinging upon the roadway for more than 600 feet.

The second site, located just 1.1 miles from the first has a gravel bar forming that is causing the river to wind to the southeast and then harshly back toward the road, causing accelerated erosion to the road prism (the bank between the river and the road).

The third project site is further upstream from the first two, located almost 2 miles upstream of Prichard and like site two, a gravel bar has formed and is changing the course of the river where it now flows against the road for about 200 feet.

This has caused the stream to have a four to six vertical drop to the channel bottom and has destabilized the bank.

Each potential project can be remedied with relatively simple techniques, including reinforcing the existing banks by adding large rock and woody vegetation for stabilizing.

These projects all come with added benefits ranging from the simple restabilization and revegetation of the banks all the way reducing sediment loss and enhancing fish and wildlife habitats.

In 2019, the BOCC agreed to support the project as part of a 319 Grant Application.

A 319 Grant Application is part of the Clean Water Act Section 319(h), where funds are provided only to designated state and tribal agencies to implement their approved nonpoint source management programs.

Each year, EPA awards Section 319(h) funds to states in accordance with a state-by-state allocation formula that EPA has developed in consultation with the states.

States submit their proposed funding plans to EPA. If a state’s funding plan is consistent with grant eligibility requirements and procedures, EPA then awards the funds to the state.

In September 2020, the paperwork for securing the grant award was completed and on Tuesday morning the BOCC made a motion for the county to formally participate as a project partner, act as the project's sponsor and provide for a County Project Agent.

The county's financial contribution of a $41,468 match is being fulfilled with in-kind services, including sourcing materials, equipment and labor.

Project work is slated for fall 2021 when the water is at its lowest.