Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.05.1998, Side 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday, May 22, 1998
New Iceland’s shores under siege
By Nelson Gerrard
With the arrival of spring and the
prospect of open water on
Lake Winnipeg within weeks,
property owners around this historic in-
land sea are bracing for yet another mer-
ciless onslaught — the aggression of high
water erosion which is destroying the
lake’s beaches, gouging out huge chunks
of land, and forever changing the shore-
line of the historic area once known as
‘New Iceland’.
Since 1992, Lake Winnipeg has rav-
aged its own shores with alarming and in-
creasing frequency — causing the unprec-
edented destruction of what were once
among the most attractive beaches and de-
sirable lakefront properties in North
America. A valuable natural resource,
Lake Winnipeg has for decades contrib-
uted to a booming tourism and recreation
industry in areas such as those from Win-
nipeg Beach to Hecla Island. Ironically,
Lake Winnipeg has saved ‘New Iceland’,
once decried as uninhabitable swampland,
from the rural depopulation suffered in
once prosperous and populous settlements
like those in North Dakota and the Baldur-
Glenboro area. As predicted in 1875 by
the forward-looking founders of the Ice-
landic reserve of Lake Winnipeg, New
Iceland had a bright future—though many
failed to see it — and in recent years it
has come into its own, with Lake Winni-
peg’s shores attracting hordes of summer
residents and permanent dwellers who fuel
the local economy of towns like Gimli and
Riverton. Now, in a further irony, Lake
Winnipeg itself is seriously jeopardizing
this development.
Flooding on Lake Winnipeg is noth-
ing new, as any reading of the history of
New Iceland will reveal. During a Nov.
15, 1880 storm, for example, Lake Win-
nipeg’s waters surrounded some of the
pioneer homes built on low lying home-
steads in New Iceland, and around the tum
of the last century, high water levels drove
many Hecla Island and Isafold pioneers
inland to the Framnes and Lundar Settle-
ments. Floods recurred in 1916, 1927, and
almost 25 years later, following the 1950
flooding in the Red River Valley — on the
average about every 21 years.
That was Nature — uncontrolled and
uncontrollable. Now, however, the flood-
ing on Lake Winnipeg is of a different kind
— admittedly lacking some of the extreme
highs experienced on rare occasions prior
to 1966 — but persistent and even more
destructive because of relentlessness.
Since 1976, a massive spillway built at
Jenpeg near the north end of Lake Winni-
peg has made it possible to release at least
50% more water in a short period of time
— so high water on Lake Winnipeg could
The Bruin Chapter INL
of Selkirk, MB is pleased to announce
that the winner ofthe raffle for two
seats on the charter flight to lceland in
July is Magnus Magnuson of Selkirk.
Above: Erosion at ‘Eyrarbakki’near
Hnausa — once a popular beach and the
site of Icelandic celebrations — now six-
foot cliffs. Inset: Widespread attempts are
being made to arrest erosion by con-
structing rock “groins" to catch sand.
Here Donnie Einarson, ofGimli, builds
a rock point at ‘Eyrarbakki’ which helped
reduce damage caused by afall storm
on October 31, 1997.
now be prevented through pmdent water
management. The Jenpeg spillway, though
built by Manitoba Hydro and the Mani-
toba govemment as part of a hydro gen-
eration scheme, is not unlike the Winni-
peg Floodway, in that it enables man to
avert the natural disaster of floods.
Why, then, is Lake Winnipeg now
destroying its own beaches and shorelines
at unprecedented rates? Why does the av-
erage water level since 1992 exceed the
historical average by almost two feet? The
answers — for many years the topic of
much public speculation and debate — are
clearly spelled out in a 1975 study con-
ducted jointly by the Federal and Provin-
cial Govemments at a cost of $2,000,000.
The Summary Report ofthe Lake Win-
nipeg, Nelson and Churchill Rivers Study
Board, the result of scientific studies done
by an array of professionals in the field of
hydraulic engineering and water manage-
ment, was commissioned to examine the
effects of regulating Lake Winnipeg as a
storage basin for hydro electric generation.
The report clearly established several
facts: that the average level of the lake
would be raised under regulation, that the
lake’s ‘water regime’ (pattem of seasonal
fluctuation) would be altered, that marshes

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would be flooded to stagnation, that ero-
sion would be significantly increased, that
damage due to regulation at 713 feet above
sea level would be 50% greater than nor-
mal and erosion at 714 would increase by
100%, and that this destruction would last
up to 200 years! The study foresaw that
many beaches would be reduced or
destroyed and that wildlife habitat would
be spoiled. The board also came to the ob-
vious conclusion that those responsible for
this scheme (i.e. Manitoba’s Govemment
and Manitoba Hydro) must be responsi-
ble for compensating those adversely af-
fected by regulation.
Among the recommendations aimed
at addressing the very real fears of people
connected with Lake Winnipeg was that a
Lake Winnipeg Management Board be
empowered to monitor the way in which
the lake was being regulated — so that if
problems arose, solutions could be found.
Almost immediately after regulation was
undertaken in 1976, however, this Man-
agement Board was disbanded, and after
a period of moderate regulation by Mani-
toba Hydro, Lake Winnipeg’s levels were
raised to the point where severe damage
precipitated a public outcry in 1986-87.
Those in charge of regulation backed down
briefly, but in 1992 it became obvious that
aggressive marketing strategies and regu-
lation practices by Manitoba Hydro were
once again behind high water problems on
Lake Winnipeg. Since 1992, the onslaught
has been constant, and now — without the
sandbars and sand beaches which
traditionally accumulated during long pe-
riods of low water and acted as buffers
against occasional high water — erosion
Continued on page 6

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