Ian Milliken, who raises purebred livestock at Reston, Man., was a 30-year employee of the Manitoba government in the wildlife field for the Canada Land Inventory and the natural resources department’s southwest region.
The Manitoba government would lead you to believe that this year’s one in 350 year flood was created by saturated soil from last year, high winter snowfall and excessive spring and summer rain in western Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan.
What it has not told you is that the real culprit behind this excessive water and prolonged flooding is wetland drainage, unrestricted and uncontrolled by the Saskatchewan government and paid lip service by Manitoba.
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Not all drainage is uncontrolled in Saskatchewan. For example, this past winter Saskatchewan drained Fishing Lake into the Assiniboine with a pat on the back from Manitoba. How did excessive water get into Fishing Lake? Unrestricted drainage by surrounding landowners.
Consider the following facts:
• 70 percent of all wetlands in the prairie pothole region of North America are in the three prairie provinces.
• 55 percent of those wetlands occur in Saskatchewan.
• More than 70 percent of the wetlands on the Prairies have been drained in the last 40 years. That’s in excess of 600,000 acres in Saskatchewan and 250,000 acres in Manitoba.
Current estimates place net wetland loss continuing at two percent annually. In addition, more than 50 percent of the Assiniboine and Souris rivers and their tributaries are in Saskatchewan and flow through what used to be some of the best wetland areas in North America. I personally have seen satellite images of entire townships in Saskatchewan that drain into the Assiniboine.
Do the math. Did you know the Manitoba government authorized 1,600 drainage permits in 2010? There are some people who might say the loss and destruction of the wetland ecosystem in Western Canada equals the devastation of the Amazon forests in ecological magnitude.
People along the Assiniboine and Souris rivers, around Lake Manitoba and the Shoal Lakes have received the brunt of this unmitigated disaster because of drainage.
After all, the Assiniboine River Diversion is a drainage of the Assiniboine River into Lake Manitoba and flooding into Shoal Lakes comes from drainage in adjacent municipalities.
Livestock producers have lost their livelihood for years and cottages and homes have been destroyed. Worse, human dreams have been shattered. You people need an immediate apology and 100 percent compensation for your financial and emotional losses. Nothing else is acceptable.
I know the immediate response is to build dikes higher, dig another ditch and pass the water on. Unlike previous NDP and Conservative administrations, who have lacked the vision and intestinal fortitude to deal with drainage issues, future administrations have to step up and show some backbone.
The governments of North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba must meet with meaningful intentions to address drainage issues. Failure to implement preventive programs and end wetland drainage should result in whatever recourse is available to the affected parties.
Just imagine the millions of dollars that municipal, provincial and federal governments are spending to replace destroyed infrastructure every time a flood occurs. Taxpayer dollars are being flushed down the toilet. Has any one political party ever calculated the true financial burden this drainage places on our society?
Manitoba’s next major flood could be worse than this one and it will not take 350 years, let alone 20 years.
Neighbours need to act like neighbours or they are no neighbours of mine.
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