Hebgen owners miffed over lack of water

By SCOTT McMILLION Chronicle Staff Writer

WEST YELLOWSTONE -- People who own homes or businesses on the shores of Hebgen Lake have a big problem this summer: lack of water.

SEAN SPERRY/CHRONICLE Lake visitors play on the shores of Hebgen Lake as docks remain dry above the current water level of the lake. Boat docks are 8 feet out of the water in some places. In other places, what used to be a quick hop to a swimming beach is now an extended walk. There are unconfirmed reports of sickly fish. Tourists are leaving. Businesses are suffering.

“I think we ought to share the burden of this drought,” said Jim Albin, manager of the Yellowstone Holiday, a marina and campground on the lake’s north shore. “But they’ve decided that Hebgen Lake ought to take it all.”

Hebgen Lake is not a natural water body. It is a reservoir created in 1911 with a dam across the Madison River. But since that time, dozens of homes and a handful of businesses have gone up around the lake, taking advantage of the good fishing, clear waters, fine boating and scenery.

Much of the appeal, however, depends on good access to the water.

This week, only one commercial marina still has enough water to launch a boat much bigger than a canoe.

People who rented slips for the summer have canceled, and are seeking refunds.

“We had to refund about $10,000,” Albin said Wednesday. “And we had a $400 cancellation just moments ago, because of the low water levels. A lot of people are just not coming.”

Hebgen is part of a complicated, heavily regulated system of rivers and reservoirs. Its management is spelled out under a 2000 agreement between PPL Montana, which owns the dam, state agencies and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

That document calls for managing the two Madison River dams with a primary focus on preserving the wild fishery in the river. The second priority is the recreation and fishery in Hebgen Lake.

“For the most part, we generate power with what’s left,” said PPL spokesman David Hoffman.

MORE INFO

Fishing restrictions Drought conditions Yellowstone restrictions Streamflow data Wildfire updates

Because the summer has been so hot and dry, water temperatures have risen in the lower part of the river, below Ennis Lake. To address that, PPL has been “flushing” water out of the dam at Ennis Lake to cool the river.

But Ennis Lake is shallow and warms up quickly. To keep the water cool enough to help the river, it must be full, Hoffman said.

That means sending more water downstream from Hebgen Lake, which lowers the lake level and leaves all those homes and businesses here high and dry.

“My business is closed because I can’t launch boats on one side and I’ve got a closed forest on the other side,” said Jack Clarkson, owner of the Madison Arm Resort, where nearby national forest land was shut down because of a June wildfire.

Brad Grein, who lives on the north shore, said avoiding a repeat of the situation is the goal of an informal group he’s working with.

PPL is operating within its legal rights, he said, but his group has been in frequent contact with company officials, trying to work out solutions.

One problem encountered this year is that much of the water released from Hebgen Lake didn’t make it to Ennis Lake, and apparently was drained off in irrigation canals, Hoffman said.

“All I can say is when we were pushing 2,000 (cubic feet per second) out of Hebgen, (Ennis) lake still wasn’t coming up,” he said.

He said company officials have been talking to ditch operators about conservation measures.

“I’m not sure we produced any tangible results,” he said. “But at least we planted the seed. Maybe it will help in future years.”

Chris Hunter, head of fisheries for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the wild, naturally reproducing fishery in the river would be difficult to replace if it were lost due to low flows or lethal water temperatures. The Hebgen fishery, on the other hand, depends on stocked fish and would be easier to rebuild if it was seriously damaged.

“In general, I think it has worked pretty well,” Hunter said of PPL’s management during this dry summer. “I don’t know that they could have operated it any better.”

Still, Hebgen residents feel like they’ve taken a bigger hit than they deserve. The tourist season here is brief, and people have a short window to earn their annual income.

Hoffman said PPL is willing to examine all possible alternatives, but the weather will remain a key player. This year, the company was relying on traditional June rains to bring the lake nearly to capacity. But the rain didn’t come.

“It didn’t happen in the upper Madison,” Hoffman said. “It happened almost everywhere else, but not in the upper Madison.”

It’s dry out there. But how dry is it?

The Yellowstone River remains at record-low flows: just 1,660 cubic feet per second Wednesday, beating the record low of 1,710 cfs on the same day during the scorching, blazing, smoky summer of 1988, and matching levels of the dust bowl years.

Other rivers in the area also are approaching record lows, most of which were set decades ago.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks announced Wednesday that, as of Friday, all fishing will be banned on the Big Hole and Jefferson rivers, 24 hours a day, joining a host of other rivers and streams with at least some restrictions.

The upper Yellowstone has been reopened to fishing, and the Bitterroot and Clark Fork rivers will be reopened Saturday, FWP announced Wednesday, but there are few other bright spots on the immediate horizon.

Small trees in the Gallatin National Forest contain less moisture than a 2-by-4 at the lumber store.

“We’re kiln dried at this point,” said Jim Kitchen, a fire management officer for the forest.

Even the big trees, what fire bosses call “1,000-hour fuels,” are approaching record levels of dryness and, “it’s the big fuels that are grabbing and holding these fires,” Kitchen said.

Across the country, 6 million acres already have been charred this summer, and the fire season is far from over.

Campfires and mechanical work are banned on most public lands around the state, and much of the Gallatin National Forest is closed to human entry because of wildfire threats.

Even the dirt is dry.

As of Sunday, 86 percent of Montana topsoil was rated as “short” or “very short” of moisture, according to the Montana Agricultural Statistics Service.

Dig a little deeper and it doesn’t change much: 80 percent of the subsoil was rated short or very short.

Fishing restrictions at www.fwp.mt.gov

Statewide drought conditions at www.nris.mt.us/Drought/status Yellowstone National Park fishing restrictions at www.nps.gov/yell Streamflows at www.waterdata.usgs.gov.nwis/rt Forest fire updates at www.inciweb.org

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