McArthur Lake | |
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Location | Boundary County, Idaho, USA |
Coordinates | 48°30′50″N116°26′59″W / 48.513894°N 116.449696°W |
Basin countries | United States |
Surface area | 600 acres (240 ha) |
Surface elevation | 2,090 ft (637 m) [1] |
McArthur Lake is a reservoir in Boundary County, Idaho, USA. It gives its name to the McArthur Lake Wildlife Corridor, which provides a bridge for wildlife to migrate between two mountainous areas. The reservoir and surrounding wetlands are rich in bird life, and are protected by the McArthur Lake Wildlife Management Area. There has been discussion about removing the dam that impounds the reservoir, which would improve the wetlands so they would support larger numbers of game birds, and would also improve the quality of water downstream.
McArthur Lake is a reservoir in Boundary County, Idaho. [2] It covers about 600 acres (240 ha). [3] The area is popular for activities such as hunting, fishing and hiking. [4] The lake is in the McArthur Lake Wildlife Corridor, which forms a route between the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains, and is used by species such as grizzly bear, elk and wolverine to reach the Idaho Panhandle and the Kootenai National Forest. [4] The corridor connects the Selkirk and Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bear recovery zones. [5]
The reservoir is about 18 miles (29 km) north of Sandpoint and 13 miles (21 km) south of Bonners Ferry. [3] Highway 2/95 from Sandpoint to Bonners Ferry runs past the east shore. [6] As of 2009 about 6,600 vehicles crossed the wildlife corridor daily on the highway. It was the top place for wildlife collisions in the state, with 34 collisions in 2007. [7]
The reservoir impounds Deep Creek, which enters at the southwest end and leaves from the northeast, and is also fed from the northwest by Dodge Creek. [6] The dam is an earthen berm about 500 feet (150 m) long with a 50 feet (15 m) concrete spillway roughly in the middle. The spillway includes a fish ladder, which helps preserve the fish population for recreational fishing on the reservoir. The fish ladder includes a sloping channel beside the spillway, with a series of low steps above it leading to the dam. [8]
Deep Creek rises east of White Mountain [lower-alpha 1] and has a watershed area of about 480 square kilometres (190 sq mi). McArthur Lake is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from its headwaters. [11] The creek flows about 33 kilometres (21 mi) north from the reservoir until it meets the Kootenay River, which in turn is a tributary of the Columbia River. [11] The impoundment has seriously affected the creek's water quality. Idaho’s Clean Water Act Section 303(d) includes the creek on the list of impaired waters due to excessive sediment and elevated temperatures. [11] In 2017 Idaho Fish & Game (IDFG) stated that no decision had been made to remove the dam, but this was being considered as a way to both improve the wetlands so more waterfowl would be available for hunting, and to improve Deep Creek water quality. [12]
McArthur Lake is shallow, with warm waters. Recreational fishing is mainly limited to warm water species: perch, largemouth bass and pumpkinseed. Tributaries above the dam are used for spawning by wild adfluvial redband trout from Kootenay Lake, British Columbia. The warm water of the reservoir may raise the mortality levels of juvenile fish migrating downstream. There are restrictions on boating with the purpose of protecting aquatic vegetation and nesting birds. This limits access to anglers. The reservoir is drained periodically so that vegetation can be controlled and waterfowl production improved. Drainage of the reservoir reduces the population of perch, but allows the surviving fish to grow larger. [13]
The McArthur Lake Wildlife Management Area covers 1,207 acres (488 ha), including the reservoir. [3] Observed wildlife include 22 species of fish, 7 species of amphibians, 6 species of reptiles, 45 species of mammals, and more than 223 species of birds. [14] Birds include raptors, shorebirds, songbirds, upland birds, waterbirds and waterfowl. In the spring and fall it is a resting place for Canada geese, American wigeon, mallard, green-winged teal, lesser scaup, common goldeneye and bufflehead. In late summer the site is home to American white pelican and shorebirds such as killdeer, Wilson's snipe, greater yellowlegs, long-billed dowitcher, western sandpiper, spotted sandpiper and solitary sandpiper. Nesting birds include veery, Swainson's thrush, Vaux's swift and bald eagle. [6]
The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. The reservation was created through the July 16, 1855, Treaty of Hellgate.
The Kootenay River or Kootenai River is a major river of the Northwest Plateau in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Kootenay River runs 781 kilometres (485 mi) from its headwaters in the Kootenay Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, flowing from British Columbia's East Kootenay region into northwestern Montana, then west into the northernmost Idaho Panhandle and returning to British Columbia in the West Kootenay region, where it joins the Columbia at Castlegar.
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The Pack River is a medium-sized river located in Northern Idaho. It is about 40 miles (64 km) long and drains a high mountainous area of the Idaho Panhandle's Rocky Mountains and Selkirk Mountains. The river flows into Lake Pend Oreille and is part of the Columbia River watershed via the Pend Oreille River.
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McArthur Lake Wildlife Management Area at 1,207 acres (4.88 km2) is an Idaho wildlife management area in Bonner and Boundary counties located between Sandpoint and Bonners Ferry. It was established in 1942 to protect and enhance waterfowl habitat. It lies within the McArthur Lake Wildlife Corridor.
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The McArthur Lake Wildlife Corridor (MLWC) is a wildlife corridor in northern Idaho, United States. It links the wilderness areas of the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains, and is used by species such as grizzly bears that move between these areas. It also provides a wintering area for deer and other ungulates. A highway and two railway lines run through the corridor, with a strip of side roads, buildings and fences along the highway. The highway section running through the corridor has high rates of vehicle collisions with wildlife. There is limited opportunity for creating safe wildlife crossings due to the difficult terrain. Conservation groups have been active in obtaining easements on timber land to prevent further development in the corridor while allowing sustainable forestry.