Many of Manitoba’s flood-weary residents are dismantling their sandbag dikes and breathing a sigh of relief, but not near the three Shoal Lakes near Inwood.
There they continue to wage a long-term fight against rising waters.
Water levels in East Shoal Lake, West Shoal Lake and North Shoal Lake began rising about a decade ago, said cattle producer Howard Hilstrom. The three lakes are now merging, flooding thousands of acres of pastureland and cropland.
Hilstrom, a member of the Shoal Lakes Flooded Landowners Association, said 90,000 to 100,000 acres of farmland are underwater, as are roads leading to higher land.
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Sixty-five producers have lost substantial tracts of land, including Stewart and Donna Tataryn, who lost more than seven sections of pasture.
After 40 years of farming, the Tataryns say they don’t know how they’ll make a living if they lose any more pastureland.
“The house can be replaced, but we’re talking about our living,” Donna said.
Hilstrom said he and his neighbours don’t dispute that heavy rain over the past two years and natural water level cycles play a part in the flooding, but they also blame poor drainage management by the province.
“We’ve been lobbying since 2002 for a drain,” Hilstrom said. “Now the water has risen above the old shorelines…. Flood mitigation hasn’t worked for these people.”
Hilstrom said the environmental goods and services or wildlife habitat programs should pay producers for involuntarily giving up the use of their land to store excess water.
Provincial agriculture minister Stan Struthers, said he was overwhelmed by the amount of water he saw when he toured the region last month.
Struthers and other officials spent 6 1/2 hours travelling rutted and water covered gravel roads past acres of flooded agricultural land.
They also toured the dike that Cyril Lillies built at his own cost last winter in an effort to save his home from the rising lake water. The home was originally built three kilometres from the lake shore.
Lillies’ dam has held, but his pastureland is flooded. He and his wife, Ella, hope the dike will continue to protect their home until a solution is found.
Struthers pledged the same support for Shoal Lake area producers that he has for other producers
“We are committed to getting cattle to feed and feed to cattle,” he said.
Acting assistant deputy agriculture minister Gerald Huebner said livestock producers should consult Manitoba Agriculture’s website for hay listings.
He said resources are available for producers who are short of funds.
“These floods are not going to be of a short-term duration. They’ll be there for some time.”
Steve Topping, executive director of infrastructure and operations with Manitoba Water Stewardship, said the Shoal Lakes will continue to accumulate water because they haven’t reached to the “fill and spill” stage. The lakes have no natural outlet, but water from surrounding municipalities is being drained into them through government licensed drains.
Topping said a drain to Lake Manitoba would reduce water levels on the Shoal Lakes but it will take several years to implement and years longer to drain the thousands of acres of farmland now under water.
Hilstrom said the Shoal Lakes Flooded Landowners Association wants a detailed plan for drainage, buyouts, future land use plans and environmental goods and services payments.
