A beaver dam on Four Mile Lake is not only raising water levels, but raising tempers between the landowner and people living on the lake.
Residents of the lake, near the airport, are concerned that their wells will be contaminated and property damaged by high water levels and that the City has turned a deaf ear to their pleas for help.
The sticking point is a beaver dam located on Four Mile Creek, which is the sole drainage for the lake. Blocking it affects the water level of the entire water body.
When the beaver builds a dam, lake levels rise high enough to contaminate wells, complain the residents who live on the lake. Property owners have previously destroyed the dam to allow water levels to drop, but that's also caused tensions to rise among neighbours.
The problem is that the dam is on private property, and the owner doesn't want the dam dismantled.
Peter Buffet knows neighbours have demolished the dam in the past and he doesn't like it. He claims that he's been living there for 25 years and the dam has always been here.
"Since I've been here it's been a beaver dam, and some person on the lake decides it's OK to just go down there and rip the dam up."
Buffet says destroying the dam means beavers then start taking down other trees on his property to rebuild it.
"I get accused of building the dam, which really doesn't help things right? I've had the MNR and the Conservation Authority up here on two different occasions for the same issue and it's a beaver dam so they won't do anything."
He says he doesn't see the dam as an issue, adding in the 25 years he's lived there he's never heard of anyone being flooded out.
"I've been here when the dam is being broken open. I've been here where the shoreline extended 25 to 30 feet out from where it should be, and that's not good."
Robert Duchesne lives near the dam and has seen its effect on the lake. He's part of a petition signed by 33 property owners...almost everyone on the lake, asking City council to help solve the problem.
Since the dam is on private property, the City can't do anything unless the creek is reclassified from a private ditch to a municipal drain, something he sees as a simple bureaucratic move. Residents see it as a slam dunk since it's the only drainage from Four Mile Lake. But the City refuses.
"That's it. That's all we need," a clearly frustrated Duchesne told BayToday. "And in the future, even when a beaver builds a dam on it again, the city is legally allowed to go onto that private land and break the dam. We all signed the petition just asking to change the classification because we've been through this before. We're not asking for any work to be done on the creek, just reclassify it."
Duchesne says lake levels have been high this spring, but caused by excessive rain, not the dam, however, the problem resurfaces when the beaver builds a dam, which it hasn't this spring.
City councillor Mark King brought the issue to Council and an engineering report was done. Staffer Adam Lacombe presented the report on November 4, 2021 and recommended no action be taken.
City Communications Director Gord Young says, "The decision at that time was to deny the petition to convert Four Mile Creek to a municipal drain, with an added amendment for staff to consult further with the North Bay Mattawa Conservation Authority."
"Engineering put the kibosh on it," Duchesne says, disappointment evident in his voice.
BayToday reached out to the Conservation Authority to ask what effort it has made to ease the problem but got no response. The City apparently has not taken further action either.
But it may have been denied, partially on a technicality. In Lacombe's report it states, "that the petition may not be complete in terms of the requirements under the Drainage Act in that page 2 of Form 1 may need to be completed by every petitioner," meaning at least 33 people would have to fill out the form.
In addition, it appears money may have been a factor in the decision to deny the citizen's request.
"Should Council decide to proceed with the drainage works, Section 8 of the Drainage Act requires that it shall subsequently appoint a drainage engineer," continues Lacombe's report. "The engineer is required to determine the petition’s validity in terms of compliance with the requirements of the Act. Further to this, the engineer is also required to examine the area requiring drainage as described in the petition and to prepare a report which shall include a description of the area that the engineer determines requires drainage, an estimate of the total cost of the drainage works, and the proportion of the total cost to be assessed to each parcel of land within the drainage area. A person who is prescribed by regulations and who has received notice of the petition under section 5(1)(b) may, within thirty days after receiving the notice, send to the council of the initiating municipality a notice that an environmental appraisal of the effects of the drainage works on the area is required. The costs of an environmental appraisal required shall be paid by the person who sends the notice requiring it."
Duchesne interprets that to mean him. He wonders why the City is making him responsible for costs when preventing flooding should be a municipal responsibility and all the residents are asking for, is a change in designation, not work on the actual creek.
Furthermore, the report states under the title Financial Implications, "Should Council proceed with the petition, the City will be responsible for the appointed engineer’s fees. A portion of these fees will be recovered from the petitioners and future maintenance costs will be attributed to the petitioners based on the future assessment schedule outlined in the engineer’s report."
Lacombe concludes, "Approving the petition could incur long-term operation costs and liabilities by the municipality. Other options by the petitioners could be explored including resuming negotiations with the property owner where the beaver dam is located or requesting further assistance from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry."
Despite the council resolution, MNRF spokesperson Sarah Fig says, "The North Bay district has not been involved in any recent discussions with the City of North Bay regarding Four Mile Creek."
Bad blood stands in the way of neighbour negotiations, and with the City unwilling to act, the flooding threat remains unresolved.
