Northern Minnesota lakefront owners argue over water levels

In 1987, the fishing resort Kec's Kove on Lake Kabetogama had a big problem: Early in the season, the lake's water level was so low that it had moved a few hundred yards from its dock.

"I had to haul the boats to the water with a four wheeler out over the dried lake bed," owner Larry Kec said.

That was a record year, but low water levels had been common on Kabetogama for decades. Kec's resort and about 30 others often lost the first month of the fishing season, simply because they had to work so hard to put boats in the water.

Their plight points to a question that's been brewing for years in far northern Minnesota: Are lake levels changing because of the weather or because of how the water is regulated?

Residents along the series of lakes that create the border between the United States and Canada are at odds over water levels and their perspective appears to be based on where they live. High water levels are good for recreation but pose a flooding threat to people who live near the lake.

For Kec, everything changed in 2000, when the International Joint Commission, the agency in charge of regulating lakes along the U.S.-Canadian border, changed how it manages water levels. The Namakan Chain of Lakes, Kabetogama and Rainy Lake are linked by three dams, two on the east end and a big hydroelectric dam to the west at International Falls that regulates water levels in the whole system.

• More: How the system works

Engineers adjust the water levels on a seasonal schedule called the rule curve. In 2000, they adjusted the curve up to keep more water in Kabetogama.

That adjustment expanded peak fishing season by a month at Kec's resort, netting him an extra $80,000 in yearly revenue. The joint commission is conducting a 15-year review to see if the new water levels worked as well for everyone else.

The 2000 adjustment is the most recent in a long line of water level strategies employed by the IJC. Timber baron and financier Edward Wellington Backus built the massive hydroelectric dam that now restricts water leaving Rainy Lake into Rainy River in 1905 to generate electricity for the logging and paper industry.

The dam operated totally unregulated for decades as water levels in Rainy Lake fluctuated wildly, International Falls Mayor Bob Anderson said.

Boise Industries has long relied on power from the dam, said Anderson, who worked for the company for 51 years and retired as its spokesman.

"It was a freewheeling time," he said.

In 1949, the IJC was formed and took over water level regulation. Since then, Anderson said the priority has been on preventing floods, rather than powering industry.

In 2000, he said priorities shifted once again.

"Recreation became a higher priority," he said.

More water was good for the resort owners on Kabetogama, but perhaps not so good for residents on Rainy Lake.

Kabetogama drains into Rainy Lake. In 2000, restricted flow through the dams pushed water levels on the whole Namakan reservoir system, which includes Kabetogama, three feet higher than they had been. The extra feet keeps Kec's shallow bay in water.

Rainy Lake's water levels had only slight adjustments 15 years ago. Water managers intend for it to crest at the same level and sink to the same low point as it has since the '70s. On paper, it looks like there shouldn't be a problem.

But since 2000, Rainy Lake hasn't obeyed the plan on paper.

While Kabetogama water levels have been high enough to allow for a full fishing season, Rainy Lake has been hit with seven years of high water and floods in the past 15 years. The disparity seems to pit residents and business owners from each lake against one another.

The commission hired Bemidji State University economics professor Patrick Welle to calculate the economic impact of the regulation changes 15 years ago. Welle's preliminary interviews suggest opinion on the water regulation is divided by where people live.

"It's a difference in where these places are located," Welle said, "about whether they perceive high or low water conditions as being more burdensome."

This year, nerves were especially raw. Rainy Lake rose to a 50-year flood stage this spring. The National Guard rushed in with sandbags. Some homes flooded and the tourist trade went on hold. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still working with Koochiching County to tabulate damages.

Kabetogama was hit as well, but Kec said high water is better than no water.

Folks on Rainy Lake feel differently, and after scores of research interviews, Welle said a lot of them blame the change 15 years ago in how the water is regulated.

"We've had seven high water events since the rule curve changed," said Bill Dougherty whose family has owned Rainy Lake Houseboats since 1978. "When for 30 years previous we had zero. What am I supposed to think?"

Unlike Kabetogama Lake, he said Rainy Lake never really had a problem with water levels until the regulation changed. Dougherty, who has been watching the lake like a hawk for years, blames the changes not on Mother Nature but on Kabetogama's management.

The way he sees it, since Lake Kabetogama is part of the Namakan Chain, which flows into Rainy Lake, if Kabetogama holds more water than usual over low season, it has less storage capacity. Dougherty's theory is that the water flow puts more water into Rainy Lake, resulting in thousands of dollars in dock and property repairs for him and his neighbors.

That's probably not the main cause of Rainy Lake flooding, according to Matt DeWolfe, an engineering adviser to the International Lake of the Woods Watershed Board.

As Rainy Lake is four times bigger than Lake Kabetogama, DeWolfe said four inches of water drained out of Kabetogama will only raise Rainy by one inch.

With that metric, Kabetogama's diminished capacity wouldn't be enough to flood out Rainy Lake.

The 15-year review study involves detailed hydrologic and environmental research as well as Welle's economic data. That research isn't done yet, but so far DeWolfe thinks Rainy Lake floods were caused by weather, rather than management.

"What we're looking at since 2000 is more water," he said. "It could be caused by climate change, but that's a complicated discussion."

Once the study is complete, he said the joint commission will look into possible changes to water level management. That could include drawing water down in either or both lakes.