3:54 p.m. - Lake Sakakawea is expected to hold steady around 1,808 feet above mean sea level through March, then slide to the 1,805 mark by the end of May, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers forecasts.

"It pretty much hovers right at 1,805 (feet msl) all year, give or take a couple of 10ths up or down," Paul Johnston, a corps spokesman in Omaha, Neb., said Thursday.

That long-range forecast is based on the most likely simulation that assumes the year's runoff is 18 million acre feet and the downstream barge navigation season is shortened by 61 days, Johnston explained. The forecast was issued Feb. 1.

State, federal and local entities are working to ensure anglers and boaters will have access to the lake.

Eighteen to 20 boat ramps on Lake Sakakawea should be usable if the corps' forecast holds, Bob Froelich, fisheries development coordinator for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, said Thursday.

"At most sites, there will be enough water and money to take the ramps down to 1,800 or 1,797 if we have to," he said Thursday.

The ramp work will cost in the vicinity of $1.5 million, Froelich said, with NDGFD putting in about $600,000, and other money coming from Congress, the corps and local entities.

Although some hauling and dredging has started, most of the work won't begin until after ice-out.

The lake's elevation Thursday was 1,808.5 feet msl, more than 7 feet lower that a year ago.

Assuming the forecast holds, Johnston said the lake's elevation should be steady for the spring spawn. A dropping lake level hurts the spawn by stranding some fish eggs on high ground, which kills them.

Northwestern North Dakota is suffering its fifth year of drought, and parts of Montana are in their sixth year, making it the worst dry spell since the reservoirs were up and operating, Johnston said.

The snowpack also is below normal, Johnson said. It's 68 percent of normal above Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana and 72 percent between Fort Peck and Garrison Dam.

"There's still lots of opportunity for a heavy, wet snow this time of year, especially in the mountains," Johnston said.

But he also predicts a tough year because the ground is so parched that it will soak up much of the runoff.

"That's what happened last year," he said. "You had pretty good snow in North Dakota. It just got sucked up."

(Reach reporter Richard Hinton at 250-8256 or outdoors@bismarcktribune.net.)