Crucial maintenance behind Silver Lake’s lower water
Ariel Jensen
Idaho (KIFI) – Environmental groups have concerns about water levels at an area lake, but officials say it needs to be temporarily lowered. Silver Lake at Harriman State Park had its water levels lowered recently as preventative maintenance on a head gate that goes underneath the main spillway.
Idaho Parks and Recreation officials explained the water level had to be lowered so construction crews could access the area.
The move had environmental groups asking what that means for the fish living there. A concern parks and rec say they share.
“We have the same concern. It’s a beautiful area, a beautiful habitat. And we’ve taken steps along the way to ensure that that resource is protected,” said. We’ve had staff on site throughout the entire process, monitoring and making sure that the fish are protected through this process. And to this point, we’ve observed no major impact to the fish or the waterfowl in the area,” said Ryan Buffington, East Region Manager for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation
The headgate was no longer functioning, and Parks and Recreation officials say it needed to be addressed.
“Our engineers determined that it was the most effective and safest way to access the area that needed to be replaced. This was preventative maintenance. It was scheduled in advance, and it was crucial to get it done,” said Buffington.
Buffington says managers were in coordination with all the state and federal agencies, required every step of the way. Ensuring the correct processes were followed during repairs.
“We met with the Army Corps of Engineers, and it was determined that this project fell under a permit 33 for temporary construction access and dewatering. Therefore, it didn’t need a special permit,” said Buffington.
Buffington says once water levels dropped, they could see the damage to the headgate was worse than originally believed. That made the repairs more important than ever.