CALGARY HERALD

C A N A D A

Sun., July 5,1992

A5

ROUGH W A T E R S
Tory plans to raise Buffalo Lake face opposition
By VICKI B A R N E T T
Calgary Herald, STETTLER

. seemed simple enough at first:
I W Don Getty wanted to give a praiM. wrie lake new life.
Alberta's premier and the newly byelected M L A for Stettler, Getty had
the ear of locals who wanted to permanently raise Buffalo Lake's high-wa1 er
mark and turn a shallow land-locked
body of water into a recreational ha­
ven.
But Getty and his government also
got an earful from environmentalists
who wanted the lake left alone, and for
nature to take its course with what
they consider an extremely rich prairie
ecosystem.
That debate continues to percolate
over the economic and environmental
merits of the project — dividing neigh­
bors and on a larger scale pitting the
local community against what they
consider the unwarranted, unwelcome
scrutiny of outsiders.
"It's spite," says local resident Jean
MacDonald, who describes the lake as
all but dead. "It irritates me when
somebody outside the area can create
such a stir, when most people in the
area are so i n favor of it."
DRIVING T H R O U G H the thick as­

pen forest surrounding the campsites,
cabins and motel of her lakeside re­
sort, called 01' MacDonald's Campsite,
MacDonald envisions a reasonably

S H A N N O N OATWAY, Calgary Herald

LOCAL SUPPORTER:

R e s o r t o w n e r J e a n M a c D o n a l d w a l k s a l o n g t h e s h o r e of 'all but d e a d ' B u f f a l o L a k e

less than $12 million — the vast major­
ity of it accruing to local land and
cottage owners. Those benefits will be:
cottage development ($9.6 million),
camping and day-use ($412,000) and
the villages of A l i x and M irror ($1.6
million).
That's outrageous, says New Demo­
crat environment critic John Mclnnis,
noting the beneficiaries will be almost
exclusively area landowners but the
bill will be paid almost exclusively*by
taxpayers.
"That's $6 for every man, woman
and child in the province," Mclnnis
argues.
The capital cost is being taken out
of Alberta Environment's operating
budget. M c l n n i s suggests that's being
done because if it came forward in the
legislature as a capital expenditure,
"we would be able to debate it."
A n n u a l operating and maintenance
costs, also to be paid for by provincial
taxpayers, will total approximately
$250,000,
As the project has been pushed
ahead, several stories and theories
have swirled about the real reasons
behind raising Buffalo Lake:
• REAL ESTATE: Though it is
reasonable to assume lakefront proper­
ty values will rise with the water,
MacDonald notes not one of her lots
for sale has moved since the stabiliza­
tion was approved.
• HIDDEN GOLFING
AGENDA:
Is golf nut Getty planning to ultimatel v h i i i l d a r n n r s p n r . h i s I n t p v i ^ w l«nH7

pun

It/lcsl buiruuiiUiiig uic v^ainpoicccj^

cabins and motel of her lakeside rei sort, called 01' MacDonald's Campsite,
MacDonald envisions a reasonably
priced destination for recessionwracked Albertans — particularly
Calgarians.
And Buffalo Lake has its attraction.
A large, moderately saline lake 20
kilometres northwest of Stettler, it is
; surrounded by lush rolling hills, ponds,
aspen woodlands, farmland, some
! sandy beaches and 784 developed and
i undeveloped cottage lots. The area
supports wildlife such as northern
pike, coyote, beaver, muskrats, deer
and numerous kinds of birds.
Buffalo Lake's water comes via
precipitation, groundwater and a creek
— but i n recent years, evaporation has
removed more from the lake than has
flowed i n .
That slow decline i n water levels
distresses cottage owners, local farm­
ers and campers. They took those
! worries to their new M L A Getty, who
j i n 1990 built a large ranch-style home
with an impressive view of the lake
just two kilometres away.
The idea of stabilizing the lake's
level with water diverted from the Red
Deer River was first raised i n 1908 and
talked about through the following
decades. Alberta Environment pro­
duced a study i n 1982 that concluded
while it was technically possible, it
would cause increased algae growth.
Two more department studies, i n 1984
and 1987, reached the same conclu­
sions.
Four months after Getty won the
Stettler byelection, another provincial
study was launched — concluding new
conditions might eliminate the risk of
algae growth.
Following public hearings on possi­
ble environmental impacts, the project
was approved a year ago.
Lake stabilization would permit
boating, benefit cottage owners, im­
prove water quality and supply i n

Lion was approveu.
• HIDDEN GOLFING
AGENDA:
Is golf nut Getty planning to ultimate­
ly build a course on his lakeview land?
MacDonald scoffs at that notion, par­
ticularly since there's at least one golf
course already planned for Stettler.
• VOTER THANKS: Is the project
just another reward to Stettler for
voting Getty back into the legislature?
Stettler has already received an
A A D A C centre and the marketing of­
fices of the Western Canada Lottery
Corporation.

nearby M i r r o r and A l i x , and diversify
the local oil-and-agriculture based
economy i n the area through tourism.
A Buffalo Lake management team
has tentative plans to begin the diver­
sion work — using a pipeline and Par­
lby Creek — by 1995, taking about
three years to slowly raise the shore­
line.
For management team chairman
Angus Braseth, the issue is simple:
"Without the project, Buffalo Lake
would become stagant because man
has changed the environment through
roads, highways and cultivation —
interfering with nature's way of stabi­
lizing the lake."

• PRIME TIME: Is the lake stabili­
zation plan part of a larger water diver­
sion scheme to move water from north­
ern Alberta to drier southern parts of
the province? The Alberta government
says it has abandoned the controversial
P R I M E scheme brought forward in the
late 1960s and early 1970s, but promi­
nent Alberta environmentalist Martha
Kostuch says all water projects built i n
the last 20 years have fit into it.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS, people most­
ly from outside the area, say there are
strong arguments against the project.
Several concerns are repeatedly
raised about the project's possible
impacts on:
• PRAIRIE PIPING
PLOVERS:
It's feared the habitat of these plump,
bow-legged shorebirds — declining i n
numbers throughout western North
America — would be lost. J . Paul
Goossen, chairman of the prairie pip­
ing plover recovery team (part of an
international effort to save the species)
says the birds' sand and gravel nesting
areas on Rockeling Bay and Rider
Lake would need to be saved, perhaps
through a control structure and pump­
ing device. Even then, there are wor­
ries the project would affect the birds'
insect food base and nesting areas.
• MIGRATORY BIRDS: The lake
area is considered internationally sig­
nificant habitat. It's also home to 14
types of waterfowl and falls under the
North American Waterfowl Manage­
ment Plan, a continental program to
boost waterfowl populations.
• WATER QUALITY: A l o n g with

the concerns about increased algae
growth, there are worries water from
the Red Deer River w i l l also carry
unusually high levels of mercury and
other contaminants. Dr. Niels Damgaard, a Calgarian and president of the
Alberta Fish and Game Association,
reasons: " Y o u ' l l change the water
quality, then the plants, waterfowl and
fisheries."
• PLANTS: A n environmental
impact assessment released i n 1991 by
Environmental Management Associ­
ates of Calgary noted three rare plant
species and eight uncommon ones i n
the area, and "some loss of these rare
plants may occur as a result of inunda­
tion of the current shoreline."

• SILT: A byproduct of straighten­
ing Parlby Creek to carry Red Deer
River water into the lake could be
increased siltation. "The vegetation
along the side of the creek that
reduced erosion has been stripped
away . . . silt is washing into the lake,
but none of the public goes there (to
that part of the lake) so nobody notic­
es," says Charles Bird, a naturalist
and retired University of Calgary bota­
nist living i n the area.
T H E R E ' S A S E C O N D debate about
Buffalo Lake — over its economics.
Last year's E I A report indicated the
current estimated project costs of more
than $13 million outweigh benefits of

As she has on several environmen­
tal issues in Alberta, Kostuch is i n the
thick of this fight. She was at the pro­
vincial impact hearings and is now
pushing for a federal environmental
impact assessment — skeptically call­
ing the whole matter Getty's Boondoggle.
A P L E A S A N T , attractive lake with
increased water levels is something
Charles B i r d says he can live with —
as long as it's done properly.
But B i r d also wants safeguards. "If
it takes a few other studies along the
way, let's do them."
MacDonald, though, says the time
for studies has come and gone, noting
local residents have been fighting for
lake improvement for decades and
more money has been expended study­
ing the lake than it would cost to fix
it.
"If we don't get any more rain than
we have been getting, the lake won't
last another 20 years."