On June 15 about 25 people attended an information session regarding the proposal of Ducks Unlimited (DU) to decommission the dam at the Pope National Wildlife Area. This dam was built by the railroad to retain water for use in their steam locomotives. According to Shaun Greer from DU “In 1967 is when DU became involved in the area. Essentially CNR gave permission to Ducks Unlimited for use of the area for wetland conservation and 1974 is when the government of Canada purchased the property around the wetlands and designated it as a national wildlife area.”
Greer said that this project would require other funding sources and the dam was scheduled to be removed in July, but because of the views expressed at municipal meetings and from stakeholders the “naturalization” was postponed until 2024.
With the high water level difference on the upstream of the dam, as well as a private entrance road, and railway downstream this was considered a very high consequence dam. He said any replacement for the dam would have to meet Canadian Dam Association guidelines that it withstand a one in 1000-year flood event. This would cost about $700,000 to build with a projected cost for safety reviews of $50,000 every five years bringing the total cost to about a million dollars over thirty years.
Jeffrey Harder, a protected areas specialist with the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) attended the meeting. He and Molly Kirk, a conservation biologist, outlined the responsibilities of the federal government, as owner of the property. Harder described the information gathered regarding the project, including the work that is proposed and any possible impacts to wildlife. CWS also gathers input from interested groups and parties, like the attendees at this meeting. He said, “We take all this information, we pass it on to experts in within Environment and Climate Change Canada, hydrology experts, climate experts, species at risk and wildlife, migratory birds, experts.”
Many community members and landowners expressed opinions about the consequences of removing the dam. Ron Knight and Michael Strachan live right beside the area in question and they spoke of their concerns. Knight said that the definition of the dam height was unrealistic. He said DU doesn’t follow municipal or provincial guidelines and the decision to follow these federal guidelines created “a bit of a credibility issue.” He also objected to the suggestion that local people help find funding to keep the dam, saying “your interest revenue last year was $9.8 (million). That means you have 400 to 500 million on deposit somewhere. You're not destitute.”
Strachan said she and her husband Joel are living on a yard site that has been occupied by the Strachan family since 1882. She says she knows little about engineering and hydrology, but she sees the dam every day. In 2014, on the weekend of her wedding, a rain event caused flooding on her access road, and she said “To me, the dam helped. It never went up and down because like you said, it's going to get to a certain point where the spillway gets locked up and that water just flowed to surrounding fields. It never got over the dam. The dam did its job, the spillway did its job. So, for me, it being there, that was huge.” She described her disappointment that DU didn’t check with them when the flood happened and that she received no warning from DU that the dam was going to be removed.
Randy Lints, mayor of Hamiota Municipality said, “if you want to get along with people, this isn't the way to do it. Now that you've given yourself a year, I think you'll find that funding.”
Val Caldwell and Diana MacDonald, councillors for Wallace-Woodworth attended and expressed concerns about the possibility of increased drainage problems in their municipality if the dam was removed. Caldwell also wondered about liability if there was a 1000-year event, as is required for new drainage structures.
The information provided at this meeting led to a commitment from DU to improve communication with stakeholders and to keep working with them to get an acceptable solution.
