by NBC Montana Staff Wed, August 14th 2024 at 3:41 PM ...

Since construction in 1952, Cabinet Gorge Dam has prevented passage of westslope cutthroat trout upstream from Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho to the Lower Clark Fork River and its tributaries in Montana.

Ten miles upstream, the Noxon Rapids Dam puts out 500 megawatts. The pair are Avista Corp.’s biggest hydroelectric facilities in its network, which stretches from Washington to Montana.

Water behind the Cabinet Gorge Dam forms a large reservoir in Montana. Avista, formerly Washington Water Power Co., serves about 350,000 customers in northern Idaho and eastern Washington.

A Montana-based environmental group has sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bonneville Power Administration over bull trout mitigation policies across the whole Columbia River basin.