Other views: Lake, river solutions remain elusive

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple put the flooding at Devils Lake in the proper context recently when he said a multi-faceted outlet system is the only way to manage the lake and the Sheyenne River. The state operates one outlet on the west side of the lake chain. At least two more are in planning stages, in addition to a control structure on the Tolna Coulee, which is the lake’s natural outlet to the river.

Devils Lake has risen 32 feet and nearly quadrupled its surface area since the early 1990s. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on lakeside dikes, home buyouts, raising roads and railroad protection. Hundreds of thousands of acres of Devils Lake Basin farmland are under anywhere from a foot to 25 feet of water; some farms have been covered for several years. The losses of lake homes, farmsteads and individual farmer livelihoods and the hit to the farm economy have been staggering. The emotional toll is impossible to measure.

The governor understands the magnitude of the problems and the interconnectedness of the lake and river hydrologic system. He said as much to a sometimes hostile crowd at Valley City, where some are so focused on their backyards that they can’t see the neighborhood. And when they do describe the bigger picture, they happily distort the situation at the lake. They insist wetland drainage is the reason the lake is at a modern-day high and apparently believe that if drains were closed there would be enough storage in the upper basin to stop the lake’s rise. That’s nonsense, and anyone who really understands the basin knows it’s nonsense.

They talk about “my” river when referring to the Sheyenne. It is not “their” river, any more than Devils Lake is the exclusive purview of the people of the lake region. It’s one vast water system that is not owned by any discrete special interest group. It is the responsibility of all North Dakotans. No management protocol will succeed until the complexity and variability of the connected lake and river inform a strategy.

Gov. Dalrymple understands how the system works. He’s moving toward a comprehensive, long-term plan to lower the level of the lake without harming the river. It won’t be easy. Parochialism, politics and lawsuits (the last refuge of scoundrels) lie ahead.

Tags: devils lake, other views, opinion, editorials