tump LINE Finally, An Easier Way to Build Character
Dam project includes ATV portage by Conor Mihell
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Portaging will be more exhaustful than exhausting this summer when canoeists wanting to get around the White River’s Umbata Falls have to hitch a ride with an ATV.
The appropriately named White River is a classic wilderness whitewater canoe run, pooling and dropping its way through Pukaskwa National Park into Lake Superior. Of the many falls, the centrepiece is Umbata, a 30-metre plume plunging into a narrow gorge. Canoeists aren’t the only ones who have been gawking at the sight of it. Prospective developers have long covet- ed the White’s hydroelectric potential. This summer, the Pic River First Nation’s Begetekong Power Corporation will begin construction of a $40 million generating facility at Umbata Falls.
Not to worry though, the needs of canoeists are being taken into account. “We’ll provide ATV shuttles for boats and gear during the construction phase,” says project manager Larry King. “The escort will be co-ordinated to minimize the canoeists’ interaction with heavy machinery.” King insists that damming Umbata will not diminish the White’s appeal to canoeists. According to King, development will be concentrated to a single area and the run-of-the-river design will not alter the landscape with a sprawling headpond. In fact, according to a 2003 Begetekong survey taken at Umbata, paddlers aren’t too upset about the development.
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www.canoeroots.ca
“We received over 100 completed sur- veys,” says King. “Only half-a-dozen stated complete opposition. The majority were pretty neutral.”
Jen Upton leads trips down the river for Naturally Superior Adventures, an outfitter based south of the park near Wawa. She questions the validity of Begetekong’s sur- vey, saying it was off-topic and frustrating. “None of the questions had to do with
the project at all,” says Upton. “Most of them were asking for info on our canoeing groups.” In response to survey results, King says that Begetekong is looking at cutting a “wilderness” portage on the opposite side of the river. They are also considering a full- service campground near the powerhouse, and a vehicle shuttle service for paddlers choosing to end their trip at Umbata Falls. In addition to breaking new ground by
introducing ATVs into wilderness portag- ing, the Umbata Falls development has the distinction of being the first hydro project approved in an Ontario Provincial Park. As a recently designated Waterway
Provincial Park, the White will enjoy a 200- metre-wide buffer of protected land as it courses through its heavily logged sur- roundings. This designation would ordinar- ily protect the river from hydroelectric development, except the White River is exempt from these restrictions because of a previous allocation of four potential hydro sites by the Ministry of Natural Resources,
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according to Nathan Hanes, an MNR water management biologist. Construction is set to begin in July, once
an environmental assessment is out of the way. By 2007, Begetekong expects the facili- ty to be producing 22.8 MW of power, an output equal to that produced by 20 wind turbines, or 842 ATVs.
ATV makers revving engines as development floodgates open in Ontario
Financial analysts are predicting feverish growth in the ATV industry after witnessing the motor- ized vehicle’s bold incursion into the portage- equipment market. Bay Street sources say the bullish forecast was influenced heavily by the November announcement that Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources has opened up more than 80 per cent of the province to hydro develop- ment.
Minister David Ramsey has pegged 200 sites across northern Ontario as potential areas for small-scale, run-of-the-river developments of less than 45 MWh.
If the model of the White River is any indication, “wilderness” canoeists everywhere could be pulling up at construction sites and waiting for the sound of a revving four-stroke engine.
Though the White River route has already been set, the minister is seeking public input before approving prospective ATV-portage routes. To register your opinion as to where the minister should go with his ATVs. write to:
minister@mnr.gov.on.ca.
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