Grand Coulee Dam seen as the answer. Efforts to build the Third Powerplant were also influenced by competition with the Soviet Union, which had constructed power plants on the Volga River larger than Grand Coulee. On , 1964, the Columbia River Treaty was ratified and included an agreement by Canada to construct the Duncan, Keenleyside, Mica Dams upstream and the U.S. would build the Libby Dam in Montana. Shortly afterward, Washington Senator Henry M. Jackson, who was influential in constructing the new power plant, announced Reclamation would present the project to Congress for appropriation and funding. To keep up with Soviet competition and
Coulee ridgetops transitioning into tallgrass prairie when not turned into pasture or used for row crops. Coulees provide shelter from wind and concentrated water supplies to plants which would otherwise struggle to survive in the xeric sagebrush steppe. Trees are often found in riparian habitats along streams in coulees and at the base of their walls. Coulee </div> Coulee, or coulée ( or ) is a term applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone. The word "coulee" comes from the Canadian French "coulée", from the French word "couler" meaning "to