http://www.grandforksherald.com/new...ls-lake-elevation-pits-farming-versus-fishing
Stabilization dream: While the 23-year wave of changing landscapes has been an economic boon to the region's recreation industry, it's been a bust for farmers and ranchers who have lost thousands of acres of productive land to the spreading lake. And the constantly evolving lake has virtually everybody wondering whether there ever will be something called normal in the Devils Lake Basin.
Billions invested, lost: Federal, state and local governments have spent an estimated $1.5 billion to mitigate the flood damage, including raising roads and bridges, fortifying and extending levees, relocating families and portions of communities, as the lake has risen and spread out over the landscape. Even with the lake level now falling, direct and indirect agricultural economy losses have surpassed $1 billion since 2011.
Farming in water:"If you go up north, you already see a lot of dead fish that are trapped, big northerns that got trapped," Webster said. "There's a spot on our land where the lake went down far enough that the road became isolated. Then I suppose the water froze deep enough to where the northerns just froze and died in there. I don't know how many areas there are like that, fields, areas where they got trapped and just died. But there are a lot of them."
Making it work: He advocates rerouting the proposed Red River Valley Water Supply Project, which would deliver Missouri River water by buried pipeline from the McClusky Canal to Lake Ashtabula, to run through Devils Lake before emptying into the Sheyenne—just like the original Garrison Diversion project that never was completed.
Stabilization dream: While the 23-year wave of changing landscapes has been an economic boon to the region's recreation industry, it's been a bust for farmers and ranchers who have lost thousands of acres of productive land to the spreading lake. And the constantly evolving lake has virtually everybody wondering whether there ever will be something called normal in the Devils Lake Basin.
Billions invested, lost: Federal, state and local governments have spent an estimated $1.5 billion to mitigate the flood damage, including raising roads and bridges, fortifying and extending levees, relocating families and portions of communities, as the lake has risen and spread out over the landscape. Even with the lake level now falling, direct and indirect agricultural economy losses have surpassed $1 billion since 2011.
Farming in water:"If you go up north, you already see a lot of dead fish that are trapped, big northerns that got trapped," Webster said. "There's a spot on our land where the lake went down far enough that the road became isolated. Then I suppose the water froze deep enough to where the northerns just froze and died in there. I don't know how many areas there are like that, fields, areas where they got trapped and just died. But there are a lot of them."
Making it work: He advocates rerouting the proposed Red River Valley Water Supply Project, which would deliver Missouri River water by buried pipeline from the McClusky Canal to Lake Ashtabula, to run through Devils Lake before emptying into the Sheyenne—just like the original Garrison Diversion project that never was completed.
