EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Levees of Kootenai

Riverside Levee, Kootenai River
Idaho, USA

Explanation:  While boating along the Kootenai River in northern Idaho, I was struck at the extent of the shoreline levees I was seeing.  This was no fluke; the levee system in this river system is well-planned.

The Kootenai River has its origins much further north in British Columbia, Canada, where a number of tributaries feed into the vast Kootenai (also spelled Kootenay) Lake.  The lake drains southward past the B.C. town of Creston, and into northern Idaho, down to the Kootenai Hatchery and Bonners Ferry, before it angles east and enters Montana.  Eventually, the waters feed the mighty Columbia River further south.  (This map illustrates its path and drainage area.)

Back to the levees. 

They were installed to stave off flooding of the river valleys, used for rural development and agriculture, as we had explored in a previous EPOW episode.  

The river system has undergone major changes since the early part of the 20th century.  Construction of the extensive levee system, along with several major dams, have resulted in restricting or eliminating nutrient spread to what were river floodplains, necessitating the adding of artificial nutrients to agricultural developments beyond the levees.  

Studies have included experimental addition of nutrients to the river to help restore the ecological system of invertebrates and fish, with partial success.