The Assiniboine River Basin Initiative was created to develop an organizational structure that would work co-operatively to address water related issues across the basin.
Representatives from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and North Dakota met in Regina Nov. 12-14 to do just that.
Project manager Wanda McFadyen said the inaugural conference was intended set up a board and find sustainable funding.
“We realize there are groups operating on the landscape that have jurisdictional power. In no way do we want to impede or supersede,” she said.
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McFadyen said Prairie Improvement Network (PIN), the driving force behind ARBI, realized no one was working collectively on behalf of people in the basin.
Bob Halliday, Saskatchewan River Basin chair, said the basin is larger than the Red River Basin and includes the Assiniboine, Souris and Qu’Appelle rivers.
He said recent flooding was a driving force behind the new organization, but “I wouldn’t omit the discussion of drought.”
“The first goal will be to set up some sort of basin-wide organization with grassroots representation from different parts of the basin,” he added.
Keystone Agricultural Producers vice-president Dan Mazier said the initiative will give basin residents a voice.
“They should at least have a say in how we’re going to manage this,” he said. “We have to talk about what is fair and equitable.”
Mazier said KAP is involved be-cause it’s a basin-wide approach to handling the issue.
“This problem is much bigger than just the region and our jurisdiction. It needs to reach into Saskatchewan and Souris.”
Kenny Rogers, the representative director for the Garrison Diversion Conservatory District in North Dakota, said the new organization will “broaden our group and make us stronger to help work on some of the troubles that we have.”
He is concerned about funding because the state government is having problems contributing money to a new organization that is not a non-profit.
“But (it) will also be another educational arm to help people understand what is happening in the basin.”
The Manitoba government has committed $50,000 in funding, and PIN has committed $350,000 until the end of January.
robyn.tocker@producer.com
