I’ve got some good news and some not so great news, both about lake levels– on different lakes.
First the good. Lake Roosevelt has started to drop. Tonight, it’s down a little more than a foot. You might not call this non-touristy spot on North Marina Way a "beach," but my dog loves it anyway. And sandy beaches will be better now, too.
That means we’ve got beaches! Last weekend, we boated to Swawilla Basin, an area with great beaches, but found no beach at all. But the big lake just started down last night and will likely continue.
By the weekend it will probably be down 2 to 3 feet, which I consider in the perfect range. It exposes beaches and leaves driftwood along the shore, not in the way of boats.
By the way, we found swimming to be quite pleasant, not cold, like it was just a couple weeks ago. This despite the fact that this has been the coolest summer since I’ve lived here (1989).
Now about Banks Lake.
The USBR started taking it down Aug. 1, as it does every year. But this time is different. A drop of 5 feet is normal, but by the end of August it’s predicted to be 13.5 feet down, depending on irrigators’ needs.
By October, it’s supposed to be at the record low of 30 feet below full, and it will stay that way until spring.
This planned drop is for maintenance of several things, including infrastructure at the south end of the lake.
The lake will still be accessible to boats at Coulee Playland in Electric City.
Live a little, learn a lot with this fresh look at the night sky
One of the great things about being located where there is a part of the National Park Service, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and a great state park is that those entities all come with talented, interesting people.
And some of those folks will put on an interesting program for free this Saturday night.
A community astronomy program will be held July 9, beginning at Grand Coulee Dam’s Visitor Center at 7:15 p.m. and ending up at Crown Point at 9 p.m., according to Janice Elvidge of the National Park Service.
Elvidge will begin the night’s program in the Visitor Center auditorium where she will present an introduction to the night sky and explore through pictures some of the wonders of the heavens.
After that part of the program, those attending will retire to Crown Point where they will get to take a look at the galaxy, a nebula, the moon and one of our solar system’s planets through a telescope.
The Crown Point overlook, by the way, is a rather out-of-the-way must see, to which you might wish to return the next morning if you haven’t been there yet. It offers a fantastic view down river and up lake way over the top of the dam.
And if you’re a geo-cacher, there’s a nearby treasure to find. I’ll bet even Elvidge doesn’t know that.
Elvidge encourages people to bring their telescopes, spotting scopes or binoculars, if they have them, and to wear warm clothes.
She said the program will only be cancelled if it rains.
The event is sponsored by Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, Washington State Parks, and the Bureau of Reclamation.
Sunrise adds a glimmer to a waterfall over Grand Coulee Dam 300 feet tall and half a mile wide.
This year’s Fourth of July will be dramatically different at Grand Coulee Dam and on Lake Roosevelt behind it.
You’ll be able to watch the dramatic spill at Grand Coulee Dam this weekend or over the Fourth of July holiday.
It’s rare, but this year’s climate conditions actually lead to a fairly stable prediction: expect water to overtop Grand Coulee Dam for at least a week and a half.
The long, cool spring, coupled with a double the normal snowpack in the mountains upstream (including Canada) from Grand Coulee has led to a later-than-normal spring runoff, and a big one at that.
Lake Roosevelt is quite low for this time of year, but very accessible, with great big beaches – hundreds of miles of them.
And visitors to the Grand Coulee Dam Festival of America July 2, 3 and 4 will be able to get an up-close view of the 300-foot-high, half-mile wide waterfall that will cool the park below the Visitor Center at the dam.
Over the last month, dam operators have been regulating the rise of the lake by “spilling” water through outlet tubes in the middle of the dam big enough to drive a truck through.
From 50,000 to 100,000 cubic feet per second shoots through those tubes into the river below. That’s up to about 750,000 gallons each second, less than half the river’s flow of about 2 million gps.
My house is about a half mile from the face of the dam, and my kitchen cupboards rattle just a little from the impact.
A more serious problem is that the resulting air injected into the water kills fish downstream, which take in too much nitrogen-saturated water through their gills.
A fish farm 20 miles downstream raising 2.7 million steelhead trout was losing them by the thousands. That operation has now apparently lost at least 100,000 of its big triploids, and anglers are snatching them up in Lake Rufus Woods — that part of the Columbia River between Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams.
Even so, operators will need to keep spilling through the outlet tubes even after the water tops the dam until enough volume is spilling over for a controlled spill, said Bureau of Reclamation Public Affairs Officer Lynne Brougher.
When you see the nice spill, realize that the management of the flow at this dam is the key to managing a river draining an area the size of France so that Portland, Ore. and points downstream does not flood.
Not letting the lake fill too quickly is critical in that plan.
“Actually,” Bougher said, “the system is working as it was designed to do this year.” She said the lower Columbia has been held right at flood stage, “and we’ve still got room” to fill the lake.
Normally full by July 4, Lake Roosevelt will likely be full about July 10 or 11, she said.
The top of Grand Coulee Dam serves as an impressive venue for fireworks.
In addition, to all the fun around Grand Coulee Dam, the food and craft booths in the park and great scenery, look for three days of outstanding music when the Grand Coulee Dam Festival of America is celebrated July 2, 3 and 4.
The Town of Coulee Dam is sponsoring the music for the second straight year, and according to Mayor Quincy Snow, the town is offering an outstanding assortment of music for the three-day event.
The venue for the event is the park below the Visitor Center. Music begins Saturday, July 2, with Eric Engebretson at 4 p.m.
Eric E, as he is also known, is familiar to coulee area music fans, having been a regular for several years during the Festival of America celebration. With his voice, guitar and a digital “looper” Eric E can pump out a song from just about any year named back to the first part of the last century.
Eric E works his musical magic at the 2010 Festival of America
Snow has scheduled what he calls “happy music” for the night cap with the Mariachi Estrella DeMeico band of Wenatchee. They make their second appearance here, and will be on stage from 6 p.m. until 9:30, just before the 10 p.m. showing of the Laser Light Show.
On Sunday, music begins again at 4 p.m. with Scott Smith and Kayla Taylor, a couple of area favorites. They play country, pop and rock renditions.
At 6 p.m. Campbell Road, a Celtic band, will perform in his first appearance at the festival.
The 8 p.m. appearance of the ever popular Steve Sogura, highlights the evening. His impersonation of Elvis Presley and his music has been a favorite at the festival for years. He will perform until just before the Laser Light Show.
As Elvis, Steve Sogura works the crowd at the Grand Coulee Dam Festival of America
On Monday, July 4, at 4 p.m., Smith and Taylor will be back with their variety of music styles for another two-hour performance.
At 6 p.m., older music lovers will connect with William Florian, former lead singer with the “New Christy Minstrels.” He will perform until 8 p.m., when Sogura will rock the area with a couple of hours of Elvis music.
The concerts, all three days, are free and financed through the town of Coulee Dam’s hotel/motel tax receipts.
