the nipigon river - lakehead university · 2016-01-29 · through lake nipigon and into the great...

TheNipigonRiver“

TheNipigonBasin

HistoryoftheArea

1000-1600 Aboriginals are well established in the area.

1650 Europeans arrive and are in awe at the limitless supply of beavers, otters and muskrats. Became huge center for fur trade.

1850 Ojibway sign the Robinson Superior Treaty

1900s First log drive attempted down the Nipigon river. Full log drives occurred from 1923-73.

Late 1800s The Nipigon Region begins to be identified as a beautiful area internationally. CPR is built through Nipigon. The region is now connected to the rest of the country.

WW1 Commercial fishing begins. Construction of hydro dams begin along the Nipigon R. Hydro dams were constructed until the 1950s.

1916 World Record Brook Trout Caught (14.5 lbs)

1943 Ogoki river diversion begins. Increased flow of Nipigon R. by 50%

Theodore Roosevelt

2001 Nipigon places a special focus on sustaining bald eagle population in area.

1940 Long Lake Diversion.

H.R.H. Edward Prince of Wales

HistoryofDamsintheNipigonRegion

•  CameronFallsDam–1920•  AlexanderDam–1930•  PinePortageGeneraDngStaDon–1950

LongLakeandOgokiDiversions

Purpose of the Projects

ToeasefearsthatenergyshortagesintheUnitedStateswouldhinderindustrialproducDonofmaterialfortheWorldWarIIdefenseeffort

a)LongLakeDiversionMovewaterfromtheAlbanyRiver/JamesBaysystemintotheGreatLakes

KenogamiRivernowflowssouthintotheAguasabonRiverintoLakeSuperior

EarlyfuncDonwasInterbasinpulpwoodtransportaDon plusPowergeneraDonintheSt.Mary’s,Niagara

andtheSt.LawrenceRivers.

History of the projects

In1940,theUnitedStatesagreedtouse143m3/sofwateratNiagaraFallsinOntario,ifCanadawouldrapidlyconstructtheOgokidiversionandconDnuewithLongLake.

b)OgokiDiversion

TodivertnortheastwardflowingOgokiRiversouthwardthroughLakeNipigonandintotheGreatLakessystem.

Toprovideanaverage113m3/sflowincrementofwaterforpowerproducDonatgeneraDngstaDonsontheNipigon, St.Mary’s, Niagaraand St.Lawrencerivers.

The Process of the OgokiDiversion

ConstrucDonofadiversiondamatWabooseRapidsØ  CausedwaterlevelsatOgokiRivertorise12m.Ø  FloodedrivervalleyandMojikitLakeuptotheheightofthelandØ  There,a0.4kmdiversionchannelwasexcavated

TheSummitControlDamregulatessoutherlyflowsØ  ThedivertedwaterenlargestheLi^leJackfishRiverwhich

dischargesintoOmbabikaBayatthenorthendofLakeNipigon

Ø  TreeswerenotclearedfromthereservoirpriortoinundaDon.

TheprojectbecameoperaDonalinJuly1943.

SummitDam

WabooseDam

Diversion Effects

Biophysical Changes

ErosioninReservoirs,DiversionChannelsanddownstreamWaterBodies Erosionhasledto... à Increasedturbidity à Degradedwaterquality à Damagedprivateproperty&

culturalarDfacts Impairedhabitatsforfish

Biophysical Changes (cont)

Treesareinornearreservoirs,diversionchannelsandLakeNipigonFailuretocleartreeshasledto...v Excessdebris

(Willtake100sofyearstodisappearby naturaloxidaDon)

v ParDallysubmergedstandingtreesCausesnavigaDon&shorelineaccesshazards

v DegradednaturalaestheDcs

Biophysical Changes (cont) (((cont)

v DrownedvegetaDon

v Createsahazardforcommercialfishing

v Longtermimpactonfishhabitatsisunclear

v SDllanabundantpopulaDonofwalleyeandpikeinOgokiReservoir

v MercurylevelsinfishfleshareaboveacceptablelevelsforconsumpDon

v Noevidenceofdetrimentaleffectsonmoose,caribouorotheranimalslivinginthewatershed.

Socioeconomic Change

EconomicBenefitsfromHydroelectricityofLongLake&OgokiDiversions-  1943to1974àprofitsexceeded220milliondollars.

Socioeconomic Change •  CreditforDivertedWater-  Canada’srighttothedivertedwaterwasmadepermanentbythe1950Niagara

RiverTreaty.- 1943to1972àdiversionsaveraged18.7m3/smorethanexpected.- Underthetreaty,Canadacanuseonlyhalfofthesurplus(9.3m3/s).-  TheUnitedStatesagreedinprincipalthattherightsofwaterdivertedintothe

GreatLakesshouldbevestedinthecountryfromwhoseterritoryitcomes.- ThisagreementwasnotapprovedbytheU.S.Senate.

- Canadadoesnotreceivecreditforabout9.3m3/sofwateratNiagaraandfor

halfofthedivertedwaterintheSt.Mary’sandSt.Lawrencerivers.(TheresultoffailingtocreateaninternaDonalGreatLakesBasinwateragreement.)

ProposedLi^leJackfishRiverHydroelectric

TheAboriginalsPresentConflict� ConflictbetweentheWhitesandIndianBandand

OntarioHydroconcerningtheproposedLi^leJackfishHydroelectricProject.

� WhitesandIndianBandisafraidofthesameeffecttheOgokiDiversionhadontheircommunity.

� TheproposedLi^leJackfishHydroelectricProjecthasthepotenDalofdamagingtheriversystembyfloodinganddestroyingtheland.

TheAboriginalsAcDonsTaken•  June4,1990,OntarioHydroandtheChiefandCouncilofthe

WhitesandIndianbandannouncedacomprehensivelanduseandharvesDngstudy.

•  Highlightsfromthestudyincludedtheeconomic,social,cultural,andspiritualimportanceoflivingofftheland.

•  ConflictsbetweenWhitesandIndianBandandOntarioHydrodealtwithinafairandeffecDvemanner.

•  TheLi^leJackfishRiverHydroelectricProjecthasnotstartedconstrucDon.

Hydro-ElectricDamsandTheirEffectonFishPopulaDons

ProblemsAssociatedwiththeDammingoftheNipigonRiver

•  Briefhistoryofthehydro-electricdams

•  ProblemswithwaterlevelfluctuaDons

•  EffectsonfishpopulaDons

ProblemsAssociatedwithWaterLevelFluctuaDons

•  WaterlevelfluctuaDonsnecessarytoregulateflowtodams

•  Resultedinfloodingofsurroundinglandandlakes

•  Erosionofstreambanksandsedimentload

•  NegaDvelyaffectedfishpopulaDons:migraDngandspawningpa^erns.

EffectsoftheDamsonFish

•  ConstrucDonofdamshasreducedmigraDonandaffectedspawning

•  GreatestimpactonBrookTrout•  FluctuaDngriverlevelsin

combinaDonwithcompeDDonfromotherintroducedfishspecies,andextensivefishingcausedpopulaDonstodropsignificantly

•  1989rehabilitaDonprogramputintoeffect

•  PopulaDonsareimprovingsinceimplementaDonofprogram.

Map of Dams