A federal judge has denied an injunction request that would have scuttled a planned six-year evaluation of the egg-to-fry survival of kokanee salmon in northern Idaho’s Lake Pend Oreille.

The study is intended to further test the findings of an Idaho Department of Fish and Game study indicating that kokanee fry survival is greater when the lake is held at a higher winter level (2,055 feet above sea level) than levels maintained for the most part since the 1970s (2,051).