Farmers are facing record flood levels in parts of Saskatchewan and that is likely to delay seeding.
“It’s one in 25 (years) in lots of places. One in 50 in some; one in 100 in others and for the Pipestone (Creek) feeding into Nut Lake near Rose Valley, well it’s the highest flows on record,” said Doug Johnson of the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority.
In the Porcupine region of Saskatchewan’s northeast and for much of that province’s northern grain belt, the winter’s heavy snowfall is compounding a ground water surplus.
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Johnson said last week that he expects delayed seeding in Saskatchewan’s northeast again this year, a region that saw delayed seeding last year and some cases in which farmers were unable to seed at all.
Don Dill of the watershed authority office in North Battleford, Sask., said while the public is aware of lakefront property flooding, most people are not aware of the more economically damaging loss of farmland.
“There are places that haven’t held water in decades that are full. And those won’t be planted or pastured this year as a result,” he said.
The normally small, seasonally grazed Richard Marsh near North Battleford is now a 10 kilometre long lake.
“There are no or very small drains for many of these water bodies. Waldsea and Wakaw Lakes, those sorts of water bodies, need to evaporate.”
Johnson said areas saturated last fall are the same ones hit by heavy snowfalls this winter.
“The ground is full. Many sloughs had water all year (in 2006) and this is going to mean lots of land won’t be doing any agriculture this year.”
Shar and Dean Matkowski at Wakaw, Sask., would be happy to just get to their off-farm jobs.
“Our cattle are being fed on an island. The school bus can’t get in and the truck is up to the bumper in water on our road going out. It’s never been this bad. We have had eight wet springs, but this is the worst,” said Dean Matkowski.
At Wakaw, runoff cut the road and telephone line of Bill Venne. Such damage hasn’t happened since the 1970s. The Venne family built a wooden footbridge to get in and out of their farm.
Gord Bender at Bruno, Sask., said the added costs and lost incomes both on and off the farms in his area will hurt small towns in the region.
In Alberta, despite high stream flow warnings in central and northern areas and ice jams forming in the Town of Peace River, no flooding has yet occurred.
In Manitoba, limited flooding is expected in areas that border Saskatchewan’s flood-prone east-central region.
As well, limited flooding of farmland is expected as the Red Deer River tops its banks.
