Flathead Lake to be lower in November

PPL Montana plans to make good on its commitment to voluntarily lower Flathead Lake for shoreline protection during the windy weeks of November.

The lake will be lowered two feet from full pool, to an elevation of 2,891 feet, around Nov. 1.

Historically, shoreline erosion is most severe in November as a result of wind-driven waves.

"Lowering Flathead Lake during fall, typically a stormy season in Montana, has significant shoreline benefits," said Jon Jourdonnai, PPL Montana's director of hydroelectric licensing and compliance. "Erosion, caused by windswept waves that wear at the gravel shoreline, is reduced when the lake elevation is lowered."

In the past, Flathead Lake's elevation has averaged about 2,892 feet on Nov. 1. But early this year, PPL Montana committed to lowering the lake as part of a shoreline protection effort that is largely aimed at protecting federal waterfowl production areas and private land on the lake's erosion-prone north shore.

That effort was negotiated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes.

"PPL Montana takes seriously its responsibility to provide reliable power and minimize the environmental effects at all of its generating facilities," he said. "We strive to reach an appropriate balance among the need for electricity generation, public recreation and resource protection."

In addition to operating Kerr Dam at the foot of Flathead Lake, PPL Montana operates coal-fired plants at Colstrip and Billings and 11 other hydroelectric plants along West Rosebud Creek and the Missouri, Madison and Clark Fork rivers.