What's the worst thing that could happen to paddling in southern Alberta ... ?? This was a recent question posed by Stew and Di. What could they possibly be referring to?
11 comments:
Anonymous
said...
We'll provide a hint a day until someone guesses what's up.
Last week representatives of the St Mary River Irrigation District made a presentation to the Oldman Watershed Council requesting support for a feasibility study for another dam on the St. Mary River. It would be located near Kimball (presumably slightly upstream where the valley narrows) and the reservoir would back up almost to the border and thus the upper St. Mary run would be flooded.
I'd heard that the OWC did not support (or reject) the request as they consider that other aspects and issues need to be considered.
The flooding of the upper St. Mary River would be a huge loss for S. Alberta paddling and it may be appropriate to provide input/information to the OWC.
At a Lethbridge meeting last night I got further info. about the proposed project. The prospect of the 'Kimball Dam' was proposed by the irrigation group but they indicate it would be intended to contribute to instream flows and provide water for towns and industry (??). It's thus been 'put on the table' and there may actually be an upside to this since it could provoke analysis related to the whole St. Mary River. There could thus be a chance for the paddling community to indicate that (1) the upper St. Mary is an important recreational resource that would be lost if flooded, and (2) the lower St. Mary would be an important recreational resource if water flowed more often.
If ORCKA members are interested, this could be a very good time to raise the issues of both the upper and lower St. Mary.
11 comments:
We'll provide a hint a day until someone guesses what's up.
For today's hint, Di says,
'it'd suck big time!'
Whirlpools, they suck big time.
By the way, I got tickets to both nights of the film festival. See you there.
a good guess and there might be an associated whirlpool but that's not the main event
and I heard that there was some curiosity at last night's pool session
today's hint:
'bigger than a bread-box, much bigger'
no takers yet, eh
here's today's hint:
animal, vegetable or mineral?
mineral, definitely mineral and indeed a big heap
still no takers?
today's hint:
'it'd be a dam shame'
They are building another dam. One that takes out some of the best playspots in Southern Alberta.
would the dam be on the upper saint marys?
bingo!
Last week representatives of the St Mary River Irrigation District made a presentation to the Oldman Watershed Council requesting support for a feasibility study for another dam on the St. Mary River. It would be located near Kimball (presumably slightly upstream where the valley narrows) and the reservoir would back up almost to the border and thus the upper St. Mary run would be flooded.
I'd heard that the OWC did not support (or reject) the request as they consider that other aspects and issues need to be considered.
The flooding of the upper St. Mary River would be a huge loss for S. Alberta paddling and it may be appropriate to provide input/information to the OWC.
At a Lethbridge meeting last night I got further info. about the proposed project. The prospect of the 'Kimball Dam' was proposed by the irrigation group but they indicate it would be intended to contribute to instream flows and provide water for towns and industry (??). It's thus been 'put on the table' and there may actually be an upside to this since it could provoke analysis related to the whole St. Mary River. There could thus be a chance for the paddling community to indicate that (1) the upper St. Mary is an important recreational resource that would be lost if flooded, and (2) the lower St. Mary would be an important recreational resource if water flowed more often.
If ORCKA members are interested, this could be a very good time to raise the issues of both the upper and lower St. Mary.
Stew,
How would you suggest ORCKA Members could get involved with this issue?
Probably worth a chat to consider the case and the challenge/oppportunity - perhaps some evening before a pool session ??
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