SANDPOINT — The United States Army Corps of Engineers is hosting a public meeting Thursday evening to discuss the upcoming spring operations of the Albeni Falls Dam. 

USACE officials will host the event in the Sandpoint Center, 414 Church St., with a virtual option for those unable to attend in person. In addition to discussing the spring operations, USACE officials said they will be going over the spillway gate replacement project, updates on recreation areas and the forecasts for snowpack and inflows. 

The USACE announced March 18 that it had awarded a $20 million contract to Knight Construction and Supply to replace all 11 spillway gates. Knight Construction has a history of working on dam spillway gates, having previously worked on the Ice Harbor Dam in southeast Washington and Hills Creek Spillway in Oregon.  

The dam’s spillway gates have been an area of concern since 2024, when USACE officials discovered defective steel in the current gates. The current gates have limited dam operations and limited the flexibility in the levels of Lake Pend Oreille, but don’t present a high-risk of a flood event. 

More information will be presented at the two-hour public meeting on May 7 at 5 p.m. The meeting will be held in the Sandpoint Center, with a virtual option found on the USACE’s Seattle District website at nws.usace.army.mil.