My concern is the impact removal will have on the consistency of water temps in the lower river (downstream of the present dam). The current dam discharges (most) downstream water from the bottom of the impoundment where the water is coolest. I’m sure it’s been well studied, but my hope is that the consistency of the water temps will be maintained or even possibly lowered by natural flow from the more spring fed upstream portions of the two forks.
Grouse
The reservoirs are slow and shallow, and warm up to around 80* in the summer, not like the deep reservoirs out west that create tailwater fisheries. This warms the water downstream an average of 5 degrees in the summer compared to the Upper Kinni. If anything, dam removal would make stream temps more consistent — cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter.
I’m most worried about all the sediment that’s currently in the lakes that could be washed out, potentially filling in holes and covering up rocks and gravel downstream.
