Water levels drop at North Arm Park
GNWT says record low caused by strong north winds, drought conditions down south
Meagan Leonard
Northern News Services
Monday, October 5, 2015
BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO
Dark skies and a brisk autumn wind painted an ominous picture at North Arm Territorial Park last week as Behchoko Chief Clifford Daniels stood surveying the shoreline - or what used to be the shoreline.
Behchoko Chief Clifford Daniels surveys the shoreline at North Arm Territorial Park Oct. 1. Water levels reached record lows last weekend exposing metres of sand and rocks. - Meagan Leonard/NNSL photo |
Shoes caked in mud, Daniels examined the drying rocks previously covered by water while explaining three days earlier approximately 100 metres of sandy lake bottom had been exposed. When News/North visited the park, located on the shore of Great Slave Lake 16 km outside Behchoko, conditions had improved but Daniels said the area continues to experience the lowest water levels he has ever seen.
"This is really, really, really low. I've never seen it that low ever," he said.
"I've seen it come out a little further, about 100 feet, but never to this point."
Yellowknife resident Lawrence Nayally visited the park Sept. 27 and posted a video of the record low lake levels on his Facebook page.
He said it took him 25 minutes to walk from the original shoreline out to where the water had receded to.
"I don't know if it's the result of climate change, the drought that's been happening or the dams," he said in the video. "These are the signs that our North is changing and that things need to change. We need to figure out what is going on here because this is unreal."
Hydrometric data collected by Environment Canada between Sept. 25 and Oct. 1 showed water levels in Great Slave Lake experienced an overall drop of 10 centimetres Sept. 27. Dawn Curtis, spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, said conditions in the North Arm were likely caused by strong winds from the north over the weekend.
"The strength of (the) wind will determine how much the water level will drop," she stated in an e-mail. "In a naturally shallow area, when coupled with a low water year, the effect is magnified. It is not uncommon to have a water level drop by almost two feet in the North Arm over a few days of north winds."
Daniels said already he has seen the conditions start to impact the community's traditional activities - making transportation on the water dangerous and fishing difficult. He said he is particularly concerned about a major whitefish spawning area at Mosquito Creek about four km from North Arm Park.
"In the tales of our ancestors, there is lots of portaging; it's our means of transportation but the rivers are like creeks now," he said. "In the winter ... we have a build up of ice that's three or four feet so there's not much room for fishing nets at the bottom. An elder told me where he fished his whole life he can't set nets anymore because the water is so low."
Daniels said, as the government works to create more conservation areas, core waterways need to be protected as well.
"Our waterways are very vital and important to all sources of life," he said. "We survive on water - they say water is life and it should be a priority."
Dehcho Grand Chief Herb Norwegian told News/North they have been experiencing similar challenges in his region. He said tugboats travelling along the Mackenzie River have frequently been hitting boulders and river bottom, adding outfitters who sell outboards have had their stock depleted.
"The water level has dropped so seriously people are lowering the lower end of their outboards and busting their props," he explained. "It's getting pretty hectic and expensive ... it's hitting the pocketbook of a lot of harvesters."
Norwegian said he is also concerned about how it will affect freezeup this winter with the Mackenzie River moving much slower than usual.
"When the water levels are low, it means now you're going to have some really weird ice like you've never seen before," he said. "You can't tell whether the ice is solid from underneath. It will be very salty, candle ice - you need to be very careful."
