Devils Lake, North Dakota

Transcription

No seat belts on, windows rolled down when you're going through the water, that's kind of the law of the land up here. Well, after this water we've just drove through to get to this point, we are going to walk over to where that duckboat is; we have a small stretch of water we have to walk through that's maybe 6 inches deep, for maybe 50 feet. We'll get in the duckboat and I have a guide rope across here so we'll pull ourselves across with that guide rope. There's days I don't leave at all, and then there's days I do it 2, 3 times. [motor purrs] From there we'll get in a Ranger 4-wheeler and then it'll be 2-1/2 miles into my yard, just another half mile through a field and then it'll be-- the rest is good gravel. It's been a gradual progression of us losing roads, but what has happened this year is we lost our final last and only road in and out of here. (woman) Funding for "Mother Nature in Charge: Devils Lake Life Stories" is provided in part by a grant from... Ramsey National Bank and Trust Company, Devils Lake with branches in Fargo, Esmond, Maddock, Rugby, Cando, and Cavalier, member FDIC; Bergstrom Cars with Lake Chevy, Market Place Ford, and Lake Toyota in Devils Lake; Nodak Electric Cooperative, Grand Forks, and by... From Saturday until Sunday night we've probably dropped 2 feet of water in spots across the roads, so on Sunday afternoon when we got the call that the last boom had broke, we ponied horses out 8 miles to the highway to get them outta here. So the horses we show and compete with are off the property, along with our trucks and our trailers. The two horses that are here with me are retired show horses that aren't being hauled anymore. I have enough feed here to feed them for two years if that's what I have to do. It's amazing what you think you can't do, and then when you're forced to do 'em, they just become part of your routine. So if anything, you find out a little bit about how tough you are or how tough you are not. That has been probably one lesson I've really learned through this, that I'm tougher than I thought I was. (Matt Olien, narrator) The Devils Lake Basin is under siege and has been since the particularly rainy summer of 1993. The personal stories of the Basin are both heartbreaking and courageous, as Mother Nature and the lake's long history have been fickle and in control. The lake itself then comes into existence at the end of the last Ice Age. And the ice has been as far south as Iowa and now it's retreated back up into North Dakota and the ice margin is around the Devils Lake area. Very interesting set of processes occur, whereby the ground in front of the glacier on the margin is frozen and the groundwater that's under that becomes pressurized and is able to hydraulically lift huge block of bedrock out of the ground, push it to the southwest, becomes Sullys Hill, leaves a big hollow behind in the ground there that fills with the meltwater and starts Devils Lake. It's in this glacial terrain and so it's a very complicated mixture of bouldery deposits and then sand deposits. As the glacier retreats, it deposits a series of moraines, and those moraines then are low hills. And those low hills then basically surround the lake. They're to the south of it, they are to the west of it, they're to the north of it, they're to the east of it as well. So it's a closed basin essentially. It's only when it gets to a certain level that it can escape those moraines and then escape into the Red River drainage. Where we're at today with over 250,000 acres and 800 structures in the water, and a lot of them are the agricultural structures. I'm signing papers up in the commission chamber now for buyouts of homes of people that I used to sit down with and have lunch when I brought fuel to their farm, or go in for coffee, and it really hurts me to see this kind of pain going on in our community. I've been an elected official for years. I was born on a farm up east of Webster, hauled fuel to all these farmers for years, they're all very good friends of mine. I've watched them lose their livelihood. In 1982 I had a heart attack and the first person at my bedside was Marge Henderson. And the other day, I had to sign papers for them to have flood insurance buy their home out and leave that farm that's been a lifelong livelihood and place to live for them. Those kinds of things hurt. For the most part, we can then consider that Devils Lake is a closed basin and where the water has accumulated in Devils Lake, that represents the lowest portion of the basin. So as precipitation occurs elsewhere within the basin, it's just a drainage event and eventually over time it's going to seek to find its lowest elevation or its lowest point, and that's the lake itself. But with the continuation of precipitation in the upper portion of the basin, eventually the wetlands filled up, we started to see some of the lakes themselves in the upper basin started to fill up, and as they started to overflow, they would flow, again, take their natural course into Devils Lake proper. You wake up every day and you wonder is it raining? [laughs] Is the sump pump working? What you're looking at here is the farmyard. These bin here, 24,000 bushels of storage, that's half the storage I have, and this spring the water come up and took 'em; I had grain in here last winter. I rent 500 acres from the Lannoys, and we ended up seeding 77 acres of it this year. The second year I farmed, I was here working and Glen caught me in the yard and he said, "I should apologize to you." and I said, "Why is that Glen, you haven't done anything?" "Yeah," he says, "I shouldn't have let you start farming." When you look at that, that water's 3-, 4-feet deep there at those trees, and I agree, we're in a wet cycle. Mother Nature has to help us out, but she's in control, so part of agriculture is dealing with what Mother Nature tells you to do, and this is what she's telling us to do right now. It's hard; today's a good day, caught me on a crabby day, I wouldn't have been quite so pleasant! June of '93 it started raining and some areas of the basin got 20, 30 inches of rain that summer. And it started filling up and it's been nonstop ever since. Some years are worse than others based on the amount of moisture, but we've averaged an increase of 4 inches more of rain throughout those years, and the fall of '08, we started getting hammered with rain and we had 14, 15 inches of rain from September through November, which really set us up for a very wet spring of '09. We had an awful lot of snow in the winter of '08, '09, and then came the spring of '09, and then we had a rain on top of the already saturated frozen soils, and we went up 3-1/2 feet in the spring of '09 and it really set us back. Every foot of rise that the lake has, we gobble up another 9,000 to 10,000 acres of farmland. We have lost about 170,000 acres of farmland just around Devils Lake itself, and that has an estimated economic downturn of about $195 million this year alone. The river is the heart of our city; it goes right through it. It affects everything we do. Everybody had to evacuate in 2009, so it's very frightening for a lot of our elderly senior citizens. So I hate to see the people of Valley City move because they don't see the beauty in the Cheyenne Valley because it's not going to be there anymore. It's going to be way different than what we see today. I do empathize with the people of Devils Lake. We're not maybe as bad, but we're in a very similar situation. This has been going on in Devils Lake for quite a long time, and it's taking the State of North Dakota and the Army Corp a long time to address those issues. And I'm afraid that's what's going to happen to Valley City. It's going to take too long for them to address the issues we have, and before long, we're going to be in the same state as Devils Lake. It takes people to make communities survive, and unfortunately, the rural areas have been decimated to the point where a lot of those roads aren't being repaired anymore, people don't have access to their property, and all that is doing is getting worse and worse. We used to have a thriving main street when I was a young kid, and now we have nothing. The decline in the population that we've lost is 100% attributed to the flooding in this area-- 100%. We had a population of about 105 residents in '99. By the fall of 2000, we were down to 2 households and 6 people. So virtually, except myself and one other family, virtually everyone else took the buyout and left. My business is here, this is my hometown, my business was good, it has continued to stay good. I just felt that I had time, that the government, state and local leaders, would be able to cure this particular problem that they wouldn't let all my farming customers go down, that somehow there would be a solution to this thing. I think we all felt we'd turned the corner, and then 3 years ago, we took a 3-1/2 foot hit on the lake with a tough winter and a tough spring. Now we're in dire straights here, to say the least. My wife, who has been extremely supportive of me, I think up until, to this last year, I think was comfortable here. This last spring has really eroded our comfort here. There's just so many road issues, so many high water issues. [with emotion] Yeah, it's going to be real hard to leave, that's for sure, but like I said, as your emotional demeanor gets hammered down, you finally come to a point where it's not worth the stress, and it's not worth the anxiety because it looks like there isn't a solution here, so you have to move on. I can remember trying to get out to a meeting on the reservation from the Town of Devils Lake, and having to drive 20 miles out of my way just to get there. Now that's got to have a negative impact on planning and organization. Then of course, there's the swallowing up of the land, and reservation land is, especially trust land, is at a premium anyway. Everybody agrees, that are in position of decision making, that there has to be something done. Where the priorities lie in whose ox is gored can often be a real problem. In many respects, it's actually benefited the economy because of the industry of construction. Flooding has become an industry. As we build up roads, as we build up dikes, as we build up every other infrastructure around the city, Devils Lake, around Ramsey County, around the other communities within the basin, flooding has become an industry, but it also has benefited the tourism industry. Tourism has increased as far as the number of resorts around the lake, the fishing has just been spectacular. It's been an interesting ordeal the last few years. The worst part of it, it's really hurt our economy. Within the last ten years we've lost about 37 homes that have moved out of the community. Within the last 2 years the most homes have moved out, so it's been very hard, hard on the elderly. We have a lot of elderly people living in the community, and it's just taken a toll on a lot of people. Most of them have lived here all their life and they just don't know what to do-- there's so many questions and there's no answers because nobody knows what to do. We are so hoping to keep what part of town we can. We know the outer-lying areas of town, people need to be moved because they are so low and hopefully this spring, we can start on our new relocation, which is about a mile north of town on Highway 281. The school's under construction now, and our hope is to move at least maybe 30 homes out there and start the New Minnewaukan, we're going to call it. I would say within the next year is going to be our crucial point. It's going to be the deciding factor whether we have a town or not. Too little too late-- that's a good possibility. This lake is rising at a rate that we just, it's unbelievable, and we're trying to hang on to our community. Seeing the destruction on the shoreline of Devils Lake and what I grew up with and what I'll never see again, even if the water went down, the homes are gone, the structures are gone, the businesses are gone, the rural sewer system, it's under the lake. They have lost so much. Are we going to see more destruction and more burning homes? Yes. We've had well over 500 homes and/or 650, 700 structures just in Ramsey County alone. We've had 25 subdivisions absolutely, I mean they're gone. It will never, ever be the same at what I grew up with. From what we're seeing now and the destruction, no, I will never see Devils Lake back to the beautiful lake that it was. And of course, lakes are beautiful, but the destruction we're seeing. A solution? Are we too late? Yes. Oftentimes you hear people refer to as the "wet cycle," in reality it's just part of a long-term climate phase that happens to be the wet portion of that phase. So it is something that is quite dramatic, it will pass. I don't believe that we're in a pattern that's going to persist forever, but indeed, it has had a dramatic impact across the northern plains and particularly across the Devils Lake region. In 1988, bought a piece of property out on east bay of Devils Lake. It's out on a place called Wolf Point. At this time I think it's under about 14 feet of water, so we had to burn it down. They wouldn't allow you to leave any structures, so that was really hard; it was devastating I look at the pictures now and think, it was so wonderful and we worked so hard to get what we had out there. And in a matter of 3 years' time, with the rising lake, it was gone; it was heartbreaking. I said, "Good God, we moved 24 miles away from the lake, "thinking we're going to be safe. How could we have any water problems here?" Well, if you've been around this area at all, you see the water everywhere. Church's Ferry on Penn, everyone is affected. The water table is so high that the county was fearful of everyone here losing their sewer systems, because there is no city system, it's individual. And if you lose your sewer system, you can no longer live in the house. So this was the one chance we had to take advantage of the offer they were making. And if you didn't, too bad. I remember my father telling me when I was a little girl, Garrison Diversion will be finished in 1988, we'll have fresh water, everything will be great; Devils Lake will be perfect! And here we are, 2011, and we're still in the same fix. In the beginning, when all this started happening, I said, "Give us an inlet and an outlet, and a treatment plant." None of this would have happened, none of this would have been necessary. We wouldn't have had to spend upwards of a billion dollars for infrastructure around here. It just doesn't make any sense to me at all, so it does make me angry. It's just been one battle after another. Last year, we really got kicked hard because we had about 65 days of nonproductive construction-- workdays. And we're kind of getting into some of that now with all these rains that we've been having. It's been a frustrating thing. I went down over there, south of Doyon and drove around 54 miles one way just to get to work here. And a lot of them went around via Minnewaukan and up that direction on Highway 2 and around. It's really raised havoc to be able to get to and from work. It is a sad state of affairs, you know, you see some people that's been to the homestead and it's been grandfathered in and all of a sudden, hey fellas-- you're done! You got no recourse to come back on, you're finished, you're done, your livelihood is done. Generations and generations washed down the tube. In the long history of the lake, we have really good evidence, different lines of evidence which indicate that there have been natural overflows probably during the last 4000 years, there probably have been at least 2 times when it's naturally overflowed into the Cheyenne River. So the lake is naturally dynamic, In some ways it's very complicated and in some ways it's very easy. Outflows and inflows have to be equal, otherwise somebody gets flooded. This is a regional issue; it goes all the way from Northern North Dakota down to West Fargo, then all the way up to Canada, and everybody needs to be involved, everybody needs to have a voice. Devils Lake, farmers need to be compensated. There is no reason why all the money that's been spent, that people who have lost theirlands and probably will lose their lands if things don't change, should not be allowed to have money to restart their lives somewhere else or stay there and change their lives. You just try giving your best professional judgment and not let the emotions, I mean there is desperation out there in Devils Lake. It's a tragic situation; they're not just losing their homes, like some of these floods in other parts of the state, they're losing their livelihood. Since 1993, the last 19 years, we feel we can keep up with the average of those 19 years. The problem is there's 3 of the years that are really big years, that we can't keep up with, and 2 of those 3 years, 2 of the last 3 years, 2009, 2011, so there's 3 years that even running these 3 outlets wouldn't keep up with the inflows of 3 of those 19 years. It's hard to be working on this Devils Lake situation. If you're an elected official from either Devils Lake or down in Valley City, we're trying to come up with a plan that works for everyone, that provides protection for everyone, and what's best for Devils Lake is not best for Valley City and what's best for Valley City is not best for Devils Lake. I think it's been one of the things that have mystified people is well we've had a dry year, why haven't we seen the lake actually drop more than it has? We're really looking at probably 3 to 5 years of dry conditions before we're going to overcome the inertia that exists right now with water that's throughout the basin that's still going to seek to find Devils Lake as it's final resting place. Farming is in my blood, my heritage, and I can see, I can feel the pain that these farmers are going through on a regular basis, and when they come into your office looking for answers, looking for solutions, looking for some hope, and you don't have any to give them. You try to listen and empathize with them because you feel for what they're going through, and you wish you could have an answer for them. We have about probably over 5000 acres that are flooded. Most of the land I own is flooded. When was it when we lost that farm completely? (Dan) I think it was 2001. What do you remember of having to burn the house? [with much emotion] It was emotional; um, my dad was not an emotional person. He kept it inside. I can still see him standing there, you know. We just didn't talk about it because everybody knew what they were feeling, and it's just... it was hard, but you know, it was an old house, I mean, but you know, it's just the memories. He had planted a lot of trees around that farmstead and we worked countless hours weeding those trees and stuff, you know, and then as the water came up there for a few years, we were living with the water right around there, and it wasn't in the trees, you know, we all, "Oh thank God, it's not in the trees, we're not losing the trees." 'Cause you still had hope that something was going to change... and then once it got in the trees... and it was like, let's just get the hell outta here. (Dan) Everybody copes different, you know. But I think everybody would agree that it's kind of a lonely fight. What keeps you still in farming? Why do you keep doing it, what keeps you from just hanging it up and getting out of here? Just by nature if you're a farmer, you're kind of an optimist and you always try to look at the bright side of stuff. I never thought it would get this bad. I always thought that the powers that be would do something, to not let it get this bad. And I'm losing faith. What's your options? I've got machinery to farm all these acres, I lost half of them this year. You couldn't sell your land, your land is not worth much. I just think we'll pick up a few acres here if we can and we'll just make it work, keep going. With the technology we have today, we can build interstate highways, we can build wind towers, we can build all kinds of things in a very short period of time for the needs of the people. We have a need here; we have a need to get rid of this water, so that the people of this region can carry on with the normal lifestyle that they were accustomed to. I don't think anybody in this basin thinks that's too much to ask for. But yet, after 18 years, we have no solution and it just boggles my mind as a human being, that in this day and age, we can't get there, we just can't seem to get there. (woman) Funding for "Mother Nature in Charge: Devils Lake Life Stories" is provided in part by a grant from... Ramsey National Bank and Trust Company, Devils Lake with branches in Fargo, Esmond, Maddock, Rugby, Cando, and Cavalier, member FDIC; Bergstrom Cars with Lake Chevy, Market Place Ford, and Lake Toyota in Devils Lake; Nodak Electric Cooperative, Grand Forks, and by... Call or visit...