Getting There: Columbia River Treaty updates could force temporary closures of Inchelium Ferry

The rural ferry linking Stevens County to the Colville Reservation could go out of service more often under updates to the Columbia River Treaty.

The Inchelium-Gifford Ferry is owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and mostly serves tribal members in the remote town of Inchelium. The ferry becomes inoperable when the Lake Roosevelt reservoir drops below a certain level.

The 60-year Columbia River Treaty governing dam management between the United States and Canada expired in September. For the first 60 years of the treaty, the U.S. paid up front for water storage in Canadian reservoirs, which helped manage floods in the Columbia River.

An interim agreement was reached in November as a stopgap while the two countries negotiate a new treaty. The agreement shifts more flood risk management responsibilities to the U.S., which means it will have to keep reservoirs lower during moderately wet years, said Roland Springer, deputy regional manager for the Bureau of Reclamation.

More frequent drawdowns of Lake Roosevelt behind Grand Coulee Dam mean the ferry will have to close more often.

Reclamation maintains the lake at levels between 1,208 and 1,290 feet. Given the location of the ramps and docks, the ferry can only operate at 1,232 feet and up, said Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Colville Business Council.

Under the previous treaty, the reservoir dipped below that level only during spring runoff in the wettest years. Now that will include moderately wet years as well, Springer said.

“This impacts emergency response and ambulance travel times, creates longer drive times for Colville government staff that lives on the east side of the Columbia, and generally makes it more difficult to access the goods and services tribal members/community members need from off the reservation,” Erickson said.

When the ferry is out of service, residents have to take about an hour detour north to the Kettle Falls Bridge.

Christina Hoffman, a clerk at the Inchelium Community Store, said people rely on the ferry to get to appointments in Chewelah or Spokane. It becomes more popular with tourism in the summer.

“It’s hell when it’s down,” Hoffman said.

According to modeling estimates from a 2020 environmental impact statement of Columbia River system operations, Springer said the ferry could be closed during wet years for a few weeks to a month, typically during April to May. The ferry would be affected less than 50% of years, however.

Downstream, the Keller Ferry, which connects U.S. Highway 21 in Lincoln County to Keller, Washington, and the southern Colville Reservation, should not be affected.

Washington State Department of Transportation Spokesman Ryan Overton said the Keller Ferry has two landing zones: one for normal operations above 1,240 feet, and another for lower levels. The lower site makes the trip across the river about 10 minutes longer, and it takes two or three hours to switch landing sites, Overton said.

Springer said Reclamation has committed to mitigating impacts to the ferry and is evaluating whether it could modify ferry infrastructure, including ramps so it could continue to operate at lower reservoir levels.