Many hope report spurs action
By Peggy Revell
Staff writer
The public is hoping a final report on the bi-national management of the region’s watersheds will spur action—and not simply collect dust on a shelf.
“My concern is not with the task force and their findings, it’s timing,” said Chief Lorraine Cobiness of Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining First Nation, speaking Monday evening at the first public meeting held here by the International Lake of the Woods and Rainy River Watershed Task Force.
“Timing is so crucial,” Chief Cobiness stressed. “Every day that goes by, the water gets dirtier. And we all have to drink from that.
“I drink from it, you drink from it.”
She said she would hate to see the report just shelved, or followed by another study and yet another study—with no action taken on all the issues facing the region’s watersheds.
The task force’s final report comes a year after both the Canadian and United States governments requested the International Joint Commission review and make recommendations regarding the bi-national management of the Lake of the Woods and Rainy River basin—and the IJC’s potential role in this.
The IJC is scheduled to make its final recommendations to Ottawa and Washington by December.
“Every day that we sit by and just look at this slick piece of paper, we lose opportunity,” Chief Cobiness argued. “I would hate to see that happen.
“You have enough people in this territory who want to see these recommendations moved, and I think there’s an obligation to move this because water is our life,” she stressed.
This call for action was something seen while working with the task force, said Lee Grim, who sits on the task force as well as on the IJC’s International Rainy Lake Board of Control (IRLBC).
“We heard this a lot in the process [when] we went around the watershed,” he noted.
“If this is just another report that sits around and no action occurs, they will be sorely disappointed,” Grim warned.
Overall, there were five main recommendations the task force made in its report.
The first is to convene a summit, bringing together elected leaders, scientists, and senior resource managers, to “facilitate the development of a bi-nationally accepted common vision, with shared goals, objectives, and implementation strategy” for the watershed.
The proposed date given for this summit is by 2013.
Secondly, the final report recommends combining the International Rainy River Water Pollution Board and International Rainy Lake Board of Control into one board, and expanding its mandate to cover the entire watershed.
Besides reporting on water quality and levels, the report said this new board also could track and report on indicators of climate change, invasive species and diseases, nutrient levels, and algal blooms.
To accomplish this, the task force is recommending the IJC expand the membership of the board, as well as provide additional staff and financial resources.
Also recommended is increasing support for the existing multi-agency arrangement’s work on water quality science efforts in the watershed.
The task force also has recommended there be increased local participation in watershed management governance, especially when it comes to enhanced participation of Métis, First Nations, and U.S. tribes.
This includes appointments to the IJC boards, as well as citizens’ advisory support to the IW board and through an advisory committee to the LWCB.
Finally, the report recommended a bi-national review of Lake of the Woods’ water-level regulation, including Shoal Lake, to take into account factors such as new climate and economic conditions, environmental considerations, and isostatic rebound, as well as various issues the task force identified through consultations with key stakeholders.
But while some expressed hope the report spurs action, others expressed concerns.
“The make-up of the task force, with little local representation and all government employees, was not ideal,” Bob Anderson charged at last night’s public meeting held over in International Falls.
“We believe this is so unnecessary.”
Anderson noted the merging of the International Board of Control and IRRWPB was proposed years ago by the IJC, and the communities spoke out against this.
“There is no need, and it has yet to be demonstrated through issues or in writing, why this merger should take place,” he said, arguing there are enough other agencies which have jurisdiction over the watershed when it comes to various issues—and have developed various plans for management.
Atikokan Mayor Dennis Brown also made a written submission to the task force, asking that there be municipal representation—such as councillors—in the future when it comes to governance.
For Chief Cobiness, the need to include First Nations’ people is “probably one of the best recommendations” she could see coming out of the report.
Throughout the process of the task force, Chief Cobiness noted there has been a lot of education on “both ends”—with First Nations’ people and leadership learning but also providing insight and education to the task force on First Nations’ issues, such as how water levels affect ongoing land claims.
“We do need to be a part of that [watershed management] structure,” she stressed.
“We can be there, we can be very productive,” she added, citing the connection of the Anishinaabe people to the water, and their responsibility towards it.
Chief Cobiness also agreed with need to hold a summit—and soon.
“Everyone who has an interest in the water needs to be there, and we need to formulate a plan,” she remarked, stressing the need to move away from old conventions and onto a new plan.
“We need to change what’s happening, and we need to do that collaboratively and we need to do that together,” Chief Cobiness reasoned.
Also calling for the summit to happen “sooner than later” was Todd Sellers, executive director of the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation, who outlined his group’s response to the final report.
“The task force report and its recommendations, we believe, provide a strong launching point to further define and unify a governance model based on the watershed,” he noted.
While the Foundation “strongly support” the recommendation to create a merged board with expanded boundaries, Sellers stressed there is an opportunity to develop and further define, co-ordinate, simplify, and unify the governance structure for the basin when it comes to watershed management.
“We think that there is a need for an over-arching bi-national governance mechanism for the watershed to provide that co-ordination and framework.
“And that the IJC, through an IWI board, [are] uniquely positioned in this multi-jurisdictional lake and watershed to provide that framework,” Sellers added, likening it to being a conductor for an orchestra.
“Not that the recommendations are bad, but we think they can go further to provide a stronger leadership co-ordination role for the IWI board,” he said.
But effective management and the priorities also require a long-term commitment and institutional stability, said Sellers, pointing to how funding cuts have affected the ability of various agencies to monitor and work on Lake of the Woods.
“The governments and their priorities come and go, but we need the institutional stability of the IJC to address these issues over the long-term,” he argued.
Given limited resources, and the need to set priorities, Sellers questioned the recommendation for a bi-national review of Lake of the Woods water-level regulation, when such a study could be better handled by the Lake of the Woods Control Board.
The task force held a second public meeting yesterday evening in International Falls, which also coincided with the IJC’s annual board meeting.
Further public meetings are slated for tonight (Aug. 17) at 7 p.m. at the Cook Ranger Station in Cook, Mn., Aug. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Historic Rex in Baudette, Mn., Aug. 19 at 1 p.m. at the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Interpretation Centre, and Aug. 20 at 9 a.m. at the Lakeside Inn in Kenora.
The complete report of the task force is available at these meetings, or online at http://www.ijc.org
The IJC also will be accepting written comments on the task force’s report up until Aug. 31.