Researcher questions Frame Lake fish demise
Water full of fish before 1960s says scientist; Christmas tree bonfires on ice may be partially to blame
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Friday, December 11, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Tim Patterson is asking longtime Yellowknifers if they can recall how 200,000 cubic metres of refuse, including ash from what are believed to be burnt Christmas trees, wound up on the bottom of Frame Lake.
The Carleton University earth sciences professor tasked with finding out why Frame Lake went from a hot fishing and recreational spot in the 1960s to a fish-free, leech-filled stew by the 1980s said unexplained dumping and evidence of wood ash prompted him to question residents.
He said three distinct layers in the sediment have wood ash in between, which is evidence the ash came from an annual burn and a story from a longtime Yellowknifer suggests a source.
"One man told us people used to bring thousands of old Christmas trees and they would hold a bonfire in the middle of the lake," he said. "And we'd just love to get more evidence of this to help us solve the mystery."
Murray McMahon said he moved to his home overlooking the lake on Dakota Court in 1968 but remembers no bonfires. He said he likes the lake the way it is.
"The idea that it's a dead lake is (not true)," he said. "There's loons hatching, there are lots of animals."
Historian Ryan Silke said he has heard from longtime residents that bonfires were held on the lake in the 1950s and 1960s.
"They used to have all kinds of bonfires on the lake," he said, adding that he's aware of packing-skid fires and fireworks displays held on the lake.
He said he isn't aware of Christmas tree burnings but called the theory sound.
Walt Humphries, who moved to Northland Trailer Park in 1969 but lived on Gitzel Street the past 15 years, said he remembers small bonfires on the lake and said it's been the site of many fireworks displays. He said he also remembers the city plowing ice and snow from streets onto the lake in springtime one year.
Silke said the city began dumping plowed snow from city streets onto the lake in the 1970s.
Patterson said he was courted to carry out a core sample study of Frame Lake by the federal and territorial governments, as well as non-governmental organization Tides Canada.
Patterson said the samples show the lake was healthy and pristine before the city came into being.
Samples found evidence of all the small animals and plants one would expect, he said, but the situation started to worsen in the 1940s.
"It was death by a thousand cuts," he said. "Starting in the 1960s some leeches started to appear. The fish, people weren't catching them anymore."
Patterson blames winter kill for the disappearing fish.
"The ice builds up and there are plants in the lake, and nutrient-rich sediments in the lake bottom, and there's animals there eating all of that, and they use up all the oxygen," he said.
There is a joint project including several partners to rehabilitate Frame Lake, stated Environment and Natural Resources spokesperson Judy McLinton in an e-mail.
McLinton did not state additional details about the effort but Patterson said there are a number of ways rehabilitation could happen. One option is to remove all the refuse from the bottom.
Another option is to increase the flow of water within the lake by increasing the size of inlets and outlets of streams entering and exiting the lake. The problem with that is water levels in the area have been low for four years now, which could be exacerbated by increased drainage through Frame Lake, said Patterson.
An aerator could also be installed to increase oxygen levels but it would be reliant on electricity and parts that require maintenance, so if it ever failed the lake would be back to square one, he said.
