Lake Roosevelt Forum
Annual Report

MISSION & BACKGROUND

The Lake Roosevelt Forum’s mission is to establish a dialog based on trust and respect of all views that seek common ways to protect and preserve the quality of the environment and enhance the quality of life as they relate to the lake and economies of the region.



The backdrop for Forum activities is the unique and distinct needs of Lake Roosevelt, which resulted from creating a reservoir to support operational capacity at Grand Coulee Dam. Two Indian tribes, federal agencies, state agencies and four counties have specific interests in the management of the lake. Individually and collectively, they seek to meet a diverse set of environmental, economic and cultural needs.

2005 saw the Forum continue to successfully engage in a set of public outreach activities intended to further strengthen collaboration and cooperation among the many stakeholders with interests in and around Lake Roosevelt.


2005 ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS

Print Materials

The Lake Roosevelt Forum Newsletter is directly mailed quarterly to over 2500 individuals. This year’s stories highlighted lake operation forecasts, Columbia River Initiative hearings and updates, fishery activities and the Upper Columbia Residential Fishery Conference, updates to EPA’s RI/FS, student discovery week, water quality issues, and other information regarding recreational opportunities, community development and the environment. The “Getting To Know” section continued to introduce readers to individuals involved with Lake Roosevelt. Copies of newsletters can be viewed at www.lrf.org/Newsletters.html.

A Public Guide to Sediment Contamination in Lake Roosevelt was successfully developed and distributed to over 3000 people. The guide provides the history of Lake Roosevelt sediment contamination, studies being done to assess human health and ecological impacts, and the status as well as proposed next steps for EPA’s Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS). This eight page, four color guide was developed in collaboration with federal, state, tribal and local agencies.

The third annual Enjoy Lake Roosevelt user's guide was created. This guide helps visitors learn about the varied recreational resources and regulations for enjoying Lake Roosevelt. The Forum updated the guide and printed 10,000 copies for distribution. The user's guide can be viewed online at www.lrf.org/Rec/Rec-EnjoyLR.html BACK TO TOP

Public Meetings and Conference Activities

In March, the annual Lake Operations public meeting took place. Here, representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation, BPA, Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA discuss with the public forecasts for lake levels and conditions, such as flood control and downstream fishery needs, that may impact these lake levels.

In June, the Forum partnered with the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Association (CBFWA) and the Spokane Tribe of Indians to host the Upper Columbia Resident Fisheries Conference. Held in Spokane, eighty one fishery biologists and managers from twenty two agencies, tribes and other groups throughout the Northwest attended.

The Forum also provided on-going support to the Lake Roosevelt Noxious Weeds Collaborative, which consists of the National Park Service, Reclamation, four county weed boards and the State weed board.

The Lake Roosevelt Forum hosts a three day conference every 18 months. Intensive planning for the April, 2006 conference began in the fall of 2005. The 2006 conference is expected to be attended by over 200 people. BACK TO TOP

Student Discovery Week

The Forum hosted and coordinated the Seventh Annual Lake Roosevelt Student Discovery Week. Held in May, students and teachers visited 6 unique discovery zones around Lake Roosevelt. Each site had specific activities and resource specialists that focused on unique aspects of the Lake’s ecology, economy and/or culture.

This year, 516 students, and 63 teachers and parents from 10 schools participated. They visited one of six zones that agencies developed with the Forum. Sponsors of zones included the Bonneville Power Administration, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Confederated Tribes of The Colville Reservation, the National Park Service, the Volunteer Net Pen Project, the Spokane Tribe of Indians, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A new zone featuring the release of white sturgeon by the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was developed. The White Sturgeon Recovery Project is a BPA Fish and Wildlife funded project to restore this fishery in the Upper Columbia. BACK TO TOP

Web Site Development

The Lake Roosevelt Forum web site hosts comprehensive information regarding historical, recreational, environmental, operational, cultural, educational and other information of value to the general public, resource specialists and others. Much of the web site contains information developed specifically by the Forum. This is in response to discovering that information concerning Lake Roosevelt was highly fragmented and difficult to access. The Forum also created and categorized links to over 80 related web sites. Launched in 2004, the web site can be viewed at www.lrf.org.

Results from the year’s web traffic activity are very encouraging. For the year, over 125,000 page views were requested, representing unique visitations of about 40,000. Monthly, unique visitations are generally two to four thousand. As expected, peak traffic continues to be highest during the summer months.

Web site information was updated throughout the year, including planning for new features and pages to be developed in 2006.Web site information was updated throughout the year, BACK TO TOP