CANADA: Les Barrages Tuent Les Rivie`res!
| YOU CAN HELP! |
"The threats against our rivers in Canada exist from coast to coast to coast."
- Dave Howlett
EASTERN CANADA: Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland |
QUEBEC
Les Barrages Tuent Les Rivie`res! Fin du Monde pour Rivie`res Canadiennes
By Jason Robertson"In a move suggesting that the provincial government has either taken leave of its senses or is gearing up for the next election, Natural Resources Minister Jacques Brassard has announced that private buyers can build hydro-electric dams on 24 of the province's most beautiful and well-used recreational waterways." - The Montreal Gazette 5/29/2001It's not like I need a new river conservation cause. I don't. Especially not one in another country, I've got enough river and social issues on my plate as American Whitewater's Access Director. But, sometimes, a place or a purpose worms its way under my radar and I just can't look the other way. This summer, one such crisis inveigled its way into my perception when I learned that ALL OF MY FAVORITE CANADIAN RIVERS ARE THREATENED by dams. YOU CAN HELP!
If you've been to Ontario
or Quebec for a paddling trip in the last six years, you've probably seen the poster. You know,
the one with the crazed childlike drawing of a paddler with teeth clenched on a paddle and a
broken blade. This is the logo for the Gatineau River Festival, which takes
place on the last weekend in August.
This year's poster carries a new message, a simple message, in blood red handwriting, "Dams Kill Rivers. Les Barrages Tuent Les Rivie`res."
Why now? Why 2001? Earlier this year, as the United States began experiencing power shortages, Natural Resources Minister Jacques Brassard proposed building 36 low power dams on 24 rivers by 2005 to generate a measly 425 megawatts. Without exception, the proposed dams are on infamous whitewater rivers of all skill levels, ranging from wilderness canoe runs on the Mistassini to the classic surf on the Class III Gatineau and the Class V+ Seven Sisters on the Rouge (The Canadian Government's List).
"In a province where there is no pressing need to expand hydro production for domestic consumption, the idea that some of the best recreational sites should be stopped up with concrete defies logic." - The Montreal Gazette 5/29/2001I'd heard rumors about the dams earlier this year, but didn't believe that they were real. After all, if someone were proposing to dam 24 classic rivers in the States, wouldn't boaters and conservationists throw their paddles in the air and scream bloody murder until someone took action to protect them?
The problem in Canada is that the population is too small, the environmental laws are too lax, the rivers are too remote, and people simply don't know about the resources in their backyard or that these invaluable rivers are about to be lost in order to line some banker's pockets. Regardless, Canada's government knows the value of the American Dollar, and it's up to us to remind the nation's leaders that our tourism brings money to the hinterlands of their nation and that whitewater boaters are prepared to spend money on their vacations to protect these rivers.
"Hydro-Quebec has revised its estimates and says that a dam project with production costs estimated to be more than three cents a kilowatt/hour is unacceptable. Not one of the small-dam projects can produce electricity at less than three cents a MW/hour." - The Montreal Gazette 5/29/2001
The first time I went boating
in Canada, my friends and I heard about something called the "Sept-Soeurs" (Seven Sisters) on the
Rouge. People talked in hushed whispers about discovering the Seven Sisters as though they had
found the Holy Grail. Eventually, my group found a kayaker who could tell us where it was, and
Brooks, Christian, Cameron, Paige, and I set out on our pilgrimage.
The Rouge has since been featured in countless videos, but at the time, it was still an unknown.
The river had not yet become a destination in itself, like the Green Narrows in North Carolina;
instead, it remained the stuff that legends were made of, in fact the legend came complete with a
guardian tower, a foreign tongue, mysterious objects, naked sirens on the rocks, and six
terrifyingly exciting adventures.
"What chance does a remote river have when even those like the Rouge that support commercial rafting and extensive recreational traffic are candidates for damming. It is very disturbing." - American Whitewater Member & Canadian John O'Leary
We knew that we'd entered
somewhere special upon seeing the old log and rock tower at the top of the gorge, which bears the
cautionary yellow legend: R-VI Danger Chutes. Moments later, we came around the bend and were
confronted by a bleak horizon line. When we got out to scout, we immediately knew the first 12-foot
drop was runnable, but it was followed closely by a second with a monstrous keeper hole and a
narrow boof point. Following the bubbles, we counted 1, 2, 3… 7 seconds from the base of the first
waterfall to the lip of the second. Not a lot of room for error. In a moment of comical hysteria,
Brooks leapt down between the rocks into the mysterious remains of an old motorboat, posing
alternately as a pilot, mermaid, and masthead. The tension broken, we ran both drops clean then
hiked back up and ran them over and over again before finally heading fifty yards down river. I
treasure the memory of a wonderful run on the first drop, launching my Fury, landing and sinking
through the boil, pulling a complete mystery move, and surfacing with time for one solid boof
stroke that launched me cleanly over Number Two.
The third drop, sometimes
referred to as The Slut, was deep, thrashy, trashy, sloppy, and easy. Tear around the bend, throw
your wad, drop about 20 feet, and go deep. The longest I stayed down was four seconds. The Slut
looked fearful, but it didn't hold any of our group, though Jimmy Blakeney tells a scary story
about Herve Amalbert and Steve Fisher getting pummeled there at this year's Montreal Big Water
Invitational high water rodeo (view the video online at kayakmag.com/movies/kayak_movies.html).
Deeper in the canyon, around the bend, lurk drops Four and Five. Four is a devil's choice; go
right down the run-out slide feeding directly into the crapper on Five, or snake through the
boofs and broaches on the left, hoping to stay upright long enough to launch over the sweet spot
on Five. Either way, the margin for error is high, and the hole below Five looked trenchy.
Ultimately we ran both drops clean and our group cruised through with primal screams echoing over
the roaring rapids.
Moments later, at Six, my nemesis, I had my glasses ripped off my head and was left with an arm in my Chums. Since then, I've run the drop about 20 times, in 20 different ways, and I've only had a clean line once. I don't know what it is about the drop, it looks easy, but it's got my number. I think, I just relax too much before running it.
Seven, is the redheaded stepchild of the run. It's the runt, and hardly bears mentioning except that there's a nudist colony on the left and you often see more flesh then you'd ever expect in a remote Canadian river when you paddle through the drop.
It would be a crying shame to lose this river to a dam; and for me, it would be like watching an ex getting married to a guy I've never liked or respected. If the Rouge was the only river on the dam list, I might be complacent, but it's not. The dam list includes other classics loves, like the Gatineau, which is only two or three hours from the Ottawa, and the Mistassibi in Northern Quebec.
"I think damming up Canada's rivers is taking away a natural, scenic, beauty that GOD created and cannot be replaced. If He meant for them to be lakes, He would have made them lakes and not rivers. Not only are you taking away beauty, you're taking away the excitement and thrill of riding whitewater. Not to mention the loss of economy the towns close to the rivers will be losing. Whitewater creates not only fitness,and fun but a large number of people of all ages and races, seem to get alot of enjoyment from these rivers and events centered around the river and/or boaters." - Rick Skeen, January 2002
One lasting memory of the Gatineau will be of watching giant meteors burn across the night sky under the Milky Way. My friends and I were laying in the grass at the Bonnet Rouge take-out, and one meteor in particular bounced in green, blue, and red across the field of stars leaving a yellow arc flaming in the atmosphere for several minutes.
Much will be lost if the
Gatineau is dammed. Sure, the river has some flat water, but nothing as bad as the lakes on the
Ottawa and the holes and waves aren't give-me's. But there are five or six phenomenal big water
play waves and holes with names like Lucifer and Haute Tension, and there is NEVER a line to get
on them. Imagine playing at McCoy's on the Ottawa or Hell Hole on the Ocoee without a soul in
sight, and you get an idea of what a visit to the Gatineau is like.
I honestly don't know if I like the rapids, solitude, or the names on the Gatineau better.
Lucifer had a series of named holes; the first center hole is "L'Ange Gardien" (Guardian Angel),
which is followed closely downstream by "L'Agneau de Dieu" (God's Lamb) on the left and the aptly
named "L'Anus de Lucifer" (Lucifer's Anus) on the right.
Haute Tension includes
three fast surf waves with a deep, clean play hole called "Transformateur" (Transformer). I can't
recall when I've ever laughed so hard on the river as when I watched my buddy Chad drop into the
Transformateur, blast the hole, bite the bow, and get a dozen un-intendo cartwheels. Every time
he started to come out he'd roll up, place a bracing stroke on the right and accidentally throw
himself in for another violent trundling. When he finally rolled out of the hole the rest of us
took turns surfing and spinning in the hole and joking about Chad's cosmic trip before getting
flipped ourselves.
There's more to the Gatineau than awesome play waves; there are also the songbirds and raptors,
the skeletal logs and other remnants of the last proud bonnet rouge log drive in 1994, the
"bleuts" (blueberries) hanging over the eddies, and broad six-foot waterfalls that remind me of
the Chattooga in Georgia.
Beyond the whitewater, the
most amazing and irreplaceable thing that would be lost if the Gatineau is dammed are the
quartzite canyons. These crystalline white walls look like icy glaciers with hard chunks of coal
on the surface. In all my traveling, I've never seen anything like them, and neither words nor
pictures do them justice. You simply have to visit the Gatineau to appreciate the canyon cliffs
in all their chipped, polished, and reflected beauty.
After a run on the Gatineau, you can head 10 minutes upriver from the tasteful and friendly
riverside, beachfront campground at Bonnet Rouge to Maniwaki and eat at the fabled Centre Chateau
Logue for a five star meal at cut-rate Canadian prices (three beers, four courses, and great
ambiance for less than $40 American), and sample regional hi-octane brews like Blanche De
Chambly, Fin du Monde, or Maudite.
"Two hours north of Quebec City, five hours northeast of Montreal or seven hours river left of the Ottawa for those of you whose geography is limited solely to hydrography, is Jonquiere. Jonquiere is centered in an area known as the Saguaney - Lac Saint Jean Region. If you were from this region however, you would probably call it "la région", and would most likely have no idea you lived in a paddling wonderland." - Wade Gapes, Rapid MagazineA night's drive northwest of Ottawa, the government is proposing dams on five sections of the Mistassini and three sections of the Mistassibi. Both rivers feed Lac Sainte-Jean, and both have long, continuous rapids with play holes that make the ones on the Ottawa look tiny. These rivers are remote, have no local advocates, and are true wilderness runs ranging from multi-day Class I canoe sections to easily portaged Class V+ whitewater.
I am from Jonquiere and involved in a group of paddlers trying hard to save the rivers in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region. You will probably be happy to know that we won some battles recently. The local authorities and the government of Quebec have recently annonced that there will be no small private hydro projet on the Mistassini, Mistassibi and Metabetchouane rivers (for now anyway) due to the realy strong opposition by numerous groups (environmentalists, local residents, fishermans, paddlers, etc..). I have personally appeared in front of a public consultation committee and promised them that more tourists (Americans especially) will come here to paddle in the near future. I hope your article will bring more paddlers like you in the region. It will realy help since the local authorities want to develop adventure tourism in the region. They just don't know the potential of our rivers, we are trying to change that." - Christian HudonThough I haven't boated the Mistassini yet, I've scouted the last few drops into the lake. This rapid is visible from the highway crossing. The river constricts and plunges into a monster hole that has a foam pile on the back that is at least 20 feet high. Just upstream, there are a series of classic falls rivaling the Streamers on the Potomac's Great Falls.
| A few miles further North, the Mistassibi enters the lake. The Mistassibi is a broad, shallow draft river where the water runs in thick sheets across multiple 6-foot ledges making phenomenal play and keeper holes. | Christian Hudon reports that the local names for the rapids on the Mistassibi are: H2O named after the local rafting company; Moby Dick because of the whale-like white rock in the rapid; Colorado the long Class III rapid; Hawaii "Oh yes!"; and Messe Noir black mass. |
My memory of running the Funnel is incomplete but involves gunning into the funnel and getting shot out the back. I recall a young Andrew McEwan going in low and getting troughed, while Ryan B went in high and got thrown violently into the meat. My vague memories are the result of too many nights driving and too many days playing on Canada's incredible rivers.
So far, I've described visits to four classic rivers that would be shoe-ins for Wild & Scenic status in the States and protected from dams, but Canada doesn't have America's legislative protections, and their government is proposing as many as ten dams on just these four rivers.
Unfortunately, the dam list goes on, and includes other Canadian whitewater treasures like the beautifully named Metabetchouane, Sainte-Ursule falls on the Maskinonge River, Neuf Falls on the Batiscan River, Kipawa, the Grand Canyon of the Chute Sainte-Anne, Matawin, and the epic falls on the Petite Nation. Canada's dam policy is truly a tragedy in the making.
In my last Canadian trip, I spent five days playing on the Ottawa, Gatineau, and LaChine. I never used cash to pay for anything, only plastic. My credit card receipt was about $250 Canadian or just less than $175 American. I ate great, slept hard, played harder, and would've spent a lot more for the same culinary and living experience in the States. Sure I had to drive 12 hours to get to Canada from Washington DC, but it was worth the overnight haul and loss of sleep for such an awesome experience and rewarding memories. Now, I can't believe that this experience is at risk of becoming only a memory, and that in just four years I may only have the crowded play spots of the Ottawa to enjoy on my summer vacations to Canada.
Back home in the States, I'm looking at the wall in my office, staring at my copy of the 2001 Gatineau Festival poster. Dams Kill Rivers. If enough of us write to the Canadian government and share our dreams, stories, and experiences about visiting the rivers and spending our money in Ontario and Quebec, we might just be able to look back on this threat and say with pride "Americans Helped Save Canada's Rivers for Canadians."
More information is available from Federation Quebecoise du Canot et du Kayak at: www.canot-kayak.qc.ca/preserv/riv_menacees_f.html and from the government at www.mrn.gouv.qc.ca/2/23/230/liste_preliminaire_site.asp.
"These new small power plants will strip the Quebec tourism sector from vital assets and Quebec citizens from a unique part of their heritage. On the other hand, at the economic level, small power plants benefit essentially to a few private promoters, since they generate no employment." - Federation Quebecoise du Canot et du Kayak.
You Can Help
Write to the Federation Quebecoise du Canot et du Kayak and let them know what you think of the government's plan to destroy 24 of Canada's rivers for an inconsequential amount of power. The Federation will forward your comments to the appropriate authorities:Federation Quebecoise du Canot et du Kayak
4545, avenue Pierre-de-Coubertin
C.P. 1000 Succ. M
Montreal, QC
Canada H1V 3R2
www.canot-kayak.qc.ca
Eastern: Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland, Back to top
ONTARIO
International Energy Outlook 2001 (IEO01) reported that Brascan Corporation plans to construct a 90MW hydropower project on the Michipicoten River near Wawa in northern Ontario, Canada. The project will cost an estimated $50 million to construct. No schedule for construction has been released.Eastern: Quebec, Ontario, Newfoundland, Back to top
NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR
Construction of four hydro projects in Newfoundland was authorized in 1992. Projects at Star Lake (15MW) and Rattle Brook (15MW) were completed and comissioned in 1998. Construction on the second pair on the Northwest (12MW) and Southwest (7MW) Rivers were temporarily suspended in 1998 pending a comprehensive review of the province's energy policy.Despite this promising news, an assessment by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) of international energy markets through 2020, reports in the International Energy Outlook 1999 (IEO99):
"Small hydro development is being reassessed in light of environmental concerns. Another consideration is that Newfoundland plans to develop more than 3.2 gigawatts of large hydro capacity on the Churchill River. Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro plans to construct a new dam and 2.2-gigawatt power project at Gull Island on the Churchill River, at an expected cost of about $2.1 billion (U.S.). Several additional hydroelectric projects have been proposed, including the $1.4 billion, 800MW Muskrat Falls development and a 1-gigawatt expansion of the 5,428MW Churchill Falls project.International Energy Outlook 2001 (IEO01) reported that planning for the Churchill River Project in Newfoundland is continuing at a scaled back level. The project was originally slated to be a 2,264MW project to be jointly developed with Quebec. The original project had been criticized because of the impact that diverting the Romaine River would have on the environment and aboriginal families living in the area. Moreover, Quebec and Newfoundland officials noted that the changing U.S. energy market made it difficult to negotiate export prices for the power. At the end of 2000, the government of Newfoundland announced that the size of the project (now to be called the Lower Churchill Power Project) had been reduced to a 1,700-megawatt powerhouse and would not require water from Quebec to complete. Construction on Lower Churchill will not begin before 2004 and should take 4 years to complete.
Therefore the issue of new hydro and dam construction in Newfoundland remains tenuous at best.
SASKATCHEWAN
NO INFORMATION AVAILABLECentral: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Back to top
MANITOBA
"When Manitoba Hydro arrived in Nitaskinan more than 30 years ago, it did not inform us of its plans, and did not ask for Cree consent. As it began to construct a massive hydroelectric project, it conducted no comprehensive environmental assessments or cultural inventories. To this day, we Crees do not know how many species have been lost, how many habitats were destroyed, or how many of our traditional campsites and burial grounds lie underwater, or disappeared during construction. We do know that we have lost burial sites, the entire fisheries of whitefish and sturgeon, our ability to travel safely on the waterways, and much of our ability to sustain ourselves from the land." - Chief John Miswagon, a Pimicikamak Cree, at the Environmental Justice and Energy Policy in the Upper Midwest Conference at the University of St. Thomas (April 15, 2000).Currently, Manitoba Hydro, a crown corporation owned by the Province of Manitoba, reports that they are considering three new hydro-electric projects in northern Manitoba to "take advantage of forecast export market opportunities" to the United States. A decision is expected by 2008 regarding these projects. If implemented, Manitoba Hydro predicts that each will take up to 10 years to construct.
"The simple truth is that when Northern States Power and other American utilities want power, Manitoba Hydro turns on the Cree environment to generate it. Last fall, Manitoba Hydro announced plans to double its exports to the US. A few weeks ago it announced plans to build another dam on the Nelson River. Manitoba Hydro intends to become the electric battery for the Midwest in the coming age of electric industry restructuring." - Chief Miswagon
At present, Manitoba Hydro owns and operates 12 hydro generation facilities in the province, which generate 99% of Manitoba's power and provide power for export to Minnesota and North Dakota in the United States. The utility's hydro generation stations include:
International Energy Outlook 2001 (IEO01) reported that Manitoba Hydro and the Tataskweyak Cree Nation reached an agreement that will give the Tataskweyak Cree partial ownership in the proposed 560MW Gull Rapids hydroelectric project. According to the agreement, the Tataskweyak Cree would be able to purchase up to 25 percent ownership in the $871 million Gull Rapids Project and would receive 25 percent of all revenues produced by the project. Gull Rapids is slated for completion in 2008. It will be located on the Nelson River near Split Lake.
- Winnipeg River: Great Falls, Seven Sisters, Pine Falls, and McArthur
- Saskatchewan River: Grand Rapids
- Nelson River: Jenpeg, Kelsey, Kettle, Long Spruce, and Limestone
- Laurie River: Laurie River I and II.
International Energy Outlook 2001 (IEO01) also reported that Manitoba Hydro is considering development of the 150MW Notigi and 250MW Wuskwatim projects on the Burntwood River.
"The electricity Manitoba Hydro sells to you is not clean or renewable, for you or for us. It is not cheap either. More destruction of the waters of Nitaskinan and the boreal environment of which it is part should be unthinkable in today1s world. We should be planning for the decommissioning of these terrible undertakings, not building more." - Chief Miswagon
Central: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Back to top
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
NO INFORMATION AVAILABLECentral: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Back to top
NUNAVUT
NO INFORMATION AVAILABLEBRITISH COLUMBIA
"British Columbia has some of the finest whitewater in the world - hundreds of rivers, kilometres of ocean surf and incredible tidal rapids. All perfect for whitewater paddling." - WKABCThe Whitewater Kayaking Association of British Columbia WKABC is working to coordinate input from paddlers on any projects that may impact instream use of BC's waterways. The WKABC's River Impacts Committee is the best place to bring forth your concerns regarding any navigation, or access issues for any waterways in British Columbia. The committee is in contact with the government agencies responsible for regulating dams, and diversions, at both the federal and provincial levels and looks to provide a unified voice to all government agencies involved in these processes. Contact Stuart Smith for more info or to get involved."At BC Hydro, we have identified more than 600 potential micro hydro sites suitable for development." - BC Hydro
"Many of those creeks are a whole lot more remote than the Rouge and have yet to be explored by paddlers. We need boaters to come north this summer!!" - Dave Howlett
BC Hydro is proposing to build more than 600 dams on rivers in British Columbia. An inventory of potential micro hydro sites (PDF, 509kb).
Western: British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, Back to top
YUKON
The Yukon Department of Economic Development reports that there are currently four utility-owned hydro electric facilities in the province, three privately owned micro hydro facilities in the region, and one more due to be producing power soon. Several studies have shown that 20MW hydropower facilities are most likely to post be profitable in the Yukon.The Northern Canada Power Commission and the Yukon's crown-owned utility, the Yukon Energy Corporation have also identified 82 potential hydro sites. Thirty-two of the sites were larger than 100MW, 17 sites were between 20MW and 100MW, and 33 sites were under 20MW. The Yukon might be somewhat insulated from hydropower development by the proximity of a thriving oil drilling industry and the availability of relatively cheap petroleum. However, as energy markets in the United States continue to grow, the potential of hydropower generation becomes more affordable. At least one office of the provincial government suggests that the region's mining industry could benefit from the construction of several small (under 20MW) hydropower generating facilities. Additionally, the Yukon Department of Economic Development reports:
The biggest challenge to new hydro developments in the Yukon could come from the fact that so many of Yukon rivers are wilderness rivers, because so little of the Yukon has been developed by humans. This was not much of a concern for past developers in the Yukon, but the public's concern for wilderness areas has been rising. This affects both storage and run-of-river hydro developers. According to the 1995 Yukon State of the Environment Report, approximately 80% of the Yukon is wilderness, compared to 41% of all of North and Central America and 3% of Europe. Thus, the Yukon is viewed internationally as an important wilderness area. As well, 9% of the territory has some form of protected status, such as a park, wildlife area, managed resource protected area, or has Canadian Heritage River Status. Opposition to developing an otherwise undeveloped river can come from conservation groups, First Nations people who have traditionally used and continue to use the area, recreational groups and the tourism industry.
Western: British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, Back to top