DEHCHO - GREAT RIVER: the State of Science in the Mackenzie Basin (1960-1985) Contributing Authors: Corinne Schuster-Wallace, Kate Cave, and Chris Metcalfe
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DEHCHO - GREAT RIVER: The State of Science in the Mackenzie Basin (1960-1985) Contributing Authors: Corinne Schuster-Wallace, Kate Cave, and Chris Metcalfe Acknowledgements: Thank you to those who responded to the survey and who provided insight to where documents and data may exist: Katey Savage, Daniyal Abdali, and Dave Rosenberg for his library. We also thank Al Weins and Robert W. Sandford for providing their photographs. Additionally, thanks go to: David Jessiman (AANDC), Canadian Hydrographic Service, Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, Government of the Northwest Territories, Erin Kelly, Dave Schindler, Environment Canada, GEOSCAN, Libraries and Archives Canada, Mackenzie River Basin Board, Freshwater Institute (Winnipeg) – Mike Rennie, Waves, and World Wildlife Fund. Research funding for this project was provided by The Gordon Foundation. Suggested Citation: Schuster-Wallce, C., Cave, K., and Metcalfe, C. 2016. Dehcho - Great River: The State of Science in the Mackenzie Basin (1960-1985). United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Canada. Front Cover Photo: Western Mackenzie Delta and Richardson Mountains, 1972. Photo: Chris Metcalfe Layout Design: Praem Mehta (UNU-INWEH) Disclaimer: The designations employed and presentations of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the ©United Nations University, 2016 part of the United Nations University (UNU) concerning legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its ISBN: 978-92-808-6070-2 frontiers or boundaries. The views expressed in this publication are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UNU. Mention of the names of firms or commercial products does not imply endorsement by UNU. The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health is a member of the United Nations University family of organisations. It is the UN Think Available from: Tank on Water created by the UNU Governing Council in 1996. The mission of the United Nations University institute is to help resolve pressing water challenges that are of concern to the Institute for Water, Environment and Health United Nations, its Member States, and their people, through knowledge-based (UNU-INWEH) synthesis of existing bodies of scientific discovery; through cutting edge targeted 204 - 175 Longwood Road South research that identifies emerging policy issues; through application of on-the- Hamilton, ON L8P 0A1 CANADA ground scalable solutions based on credible research; and, through relevant and targeted public outreach. It is hosted by the Government of Canada and McMaster University. Telephone: +1-905-667-5511 Fax: +1-905-667-5510 E-mail: [email protected] Web: inweh.unu.edu Facebook: facebook.com/UNUINWEH Twitter: twitter.com/UNUINWEH UNU-INWEH is supported by the government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada Available for Download at: http://inweh.unu.edu STATE OF SCIENCE IN THE MACKENZIE BASIN (1960-1985) Table of Contents Forward ...................................................................................................................... 2 Summary .................................................................................................................... 3 The Study ................................................................................................................... 5 Context .................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5 Methods ................................................................................................................ 6 Organizations and Researchers ............................................................................. 6 Resources .............................................................................................................. 6 Trends in Research and Water Quality ........................................................................ 7 Water Quality Trends ............................................................................................. 8 Trends in Development Concerns ......................................................................... 10 Agriculture ................................................................................................ 10 Mining ...................................................................................................... 10 Energy Extraction/Generation .................................................................. 11 Chilled Pipeline ........................................................................................ 12 Urbanisation ............................................................................................. 12 Construction ............................................................................................. 12 Environmental Concerns ....................................................................................... 13 Fish ........................................................................................................... 13 Sedimentation .......................................................................................... 13 Hypoxia .................................................................................................... 14 Permafrost ................................................................................................ 14 Data, Evidence and Monitoring ............................................................................ 14 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 17 References ................................................................................................................. 18 Appendices ................................................................................................................ 19 Appendix I ............................................................................................................. 19 Appendix II ............................................................................................................ 19 Appendix III ........................................................................................................... 21 Appendix IV ........................................................................................................... 23 Appendix V ............................................................................................................ 25 Appendix VI ........................................................................................................... 27 Trail River. Photo: Al Wiens, 1972. Martin River slump. Photo: Al Wiens, 1974. 1 STATE OF SCIENCE IN THE MACKENZIE BASIN (1960-1985) Forward The Mackenzie River is one of the great rivers of the To ensure long-term accessibility to the collection world. One of the names used by the Dene peoples compiled by UNU-INWEH, the documents are being that live in the basin is Dehcho, the Great River. added to the collection of the Arctic Institute of North Despite its large size, the Mackenzie River Basin is America (AINA) at the University of Calgary. High- under threat from climate change, natural resource priority electronic documents will be included in AINA’s extraction, potential water diversion projects, and online database, the Arctic Science and Technology urban development. In 2013, there was an emphasis on Information System (ASTIS), which contains 81,000 the need to improve access to historical information on records of publications and research projects about freshwater within the Mackenzie River Basin. This was northern Canada and the circumpolar Arctic. ASTIS echoed in the findings of the Rosenberg International is publicly accessible online from a bilingual website1. Forum Report, which stated that “[the] inaccessibility Relevant documents gathered by UNU-INWEH are of some major work done in the 1970s means that the being referenced against the online database and any working knowledge of the Mackenzie is smaller than documents that are not currently part of the collection that of other major rivers.” To address this gap, The will be added to the archive at the University of Calgary. Gordon Foundation provided a grant to the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) to catalogue the information generated in past studies and find ways of making it more widely available. This initiative proved to be timely. Cuts to federal libraries in 2013 led to the closure of the library at he disintegration “ the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, which contained of managing what has been described as a “treasure trove” of T information on freshwater in Canada. UNU-INWEH historical data and salvaged a number of records from the collection at documents in the the Freshwater Institute that would have otherwise been lost from the public record. They also sourced Mackenzie Basin is documents from other libraries and received donations a national disgrace. from researchers who were involved in studies between 1960 and 1985. UNU-INWEH prepared a summary of “ (Survey respondent) the research conducted over this period, that relates to water quality in the Basin, and also referenced landmark reports prepared over this period. This report