Forecasters say there's only a 5 percent chance Koocanusa will reach full pool by July, compared to a 61 percent chance for Lake Roosevelt. The annual May release of water to help Kootenai River sturgeon won't happen this year, meaning the fish likely will have little spawning success. Dworshak reservoir is holding only about a quarter full, said Mark Snider, a spokesman for Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. That's tough on tourist-related businesses in a region already hit with the loss of timber jobs, Snider said. Without water in Dworshak reservoir, fisheries biologists won't have what they need to help salmon in August.
Water normally is released through the dam to cool the Snake River when it's too hot for salmon.
That water also helps whisk migrating juvenile salmon to the Pacific. Not all the news is bad for fish. Biologists have been able to coordinate with power managers to keep plenty of water in the lower Columbia for chum salmon. And endangered burbot benefited from low early winter flows in the Kootenai River, said Idaho biologist Vaughn Paragamian. There was at least one female that had already spawned.