The Burleigh County Water Resource District board is reviewing the proposal and why it was discarded back in the early 1990s. The diversion generated much discussion at Monday’s meeting of the board.

The past few years have been very dry and have taken their toll on Apple Creek. The water district is considering using the creek as a source of water for the McDowell Dam Recreation Area, which has a very limited watershed. Water from the McClusky canal could be transferred to the top of the Apple Creek watershed with either a pipeline or open ditch.

The water board’s consulting engineer Mike Gunsch was there when the issue was at the center of heated public debate in the early 1990s. The company he was working for at the time was providing engineering services for the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District and he was delegated the duty of taking meeting minutes.

“Since irrigation was a no-no at that time, we were looking at a potential diversion from the McClusky canal to Apple Creek as a general water supply,” Gunsch said. “Water would be delivered to freshen the stream.”

There were two public meetings, Gunsch said. One in Bismarck, which was well attended, and another in Wing, which also drew a good crowd. The general mood in Bismarck wasn’t very favorable to the project.

“In Wing, ranchers and farmers said ‘absolutely not, we don’t want it,’” Gunsch said. “The bottom line was that if there was that much opposition, we stopped.”

Despite the opposition, Gunsch doesn’t feel the idea isn’t without value. Most of the opposition was generated by people whose property Apple Creek flows through. They were dead set against the project because of the involvement of the federal government and state government, along with the public access it could provide to their property.

County Commissioner Marlan Haakenson said he remembers being at the Bismarck meeting, which was held at the former Bismarck State College building now occupied by the State Water Commission.

“One of the objections was the farmers and ranchers didn’t want a ditch or pipeline separating them from their land,” Haakenson said.

Commissioner Doug Schonert also was in attendance and said he remembers discussion about Apple Creek becoming a flowing stream and people wanting to go canoeing on it.

“That was a big drawback. They didn’t want people having public access to their pastures. They were worried there would be more hunting and fishing, and were totally against it,” Schonert said.

Dean Hildebrand, former North Dakota Game & Fish director, also was part of the debate. But he envisioned great benefits from the project, including a facility similar to the Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Center near Winnipeg, Manitoba, through a combined effort of organizations such as game & fish, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited and the conservancy district. Water from Apple Creek would be used to make the McKenzie marsh usable all the time.

A plan to provide Apple Creek with water also was floated before the state Legislature in the 1970s, Hildebrand said. The idea was to build a dam, and store water for a recreational area and housing development northeast of Bismarck.

“The fact is, if we don’t use Missouri water in North Dakota, we’re going to lose it. We have to plan and use it wisely,” Hildebrand said. “There are already states in the south looking for ways to get our water. You’re talking millions of people versus about 700,000 in North Dakota.”

Burleigh County commission Jerry Woodcox told the water board he had broached the subject about bringing water to McDowell Dam to Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

“The only way McDowell is going to survive is by finding a source of water,” Woodcox said. “Dorgan has more power than people realize. He has a tremendous amount of resources if we can get him on our side. He was very receptive to the idea, but it has to be initiated by the water board and Burleigh County.”

Water board chairman Gailen Narum said that the issue was revived in the water district considering transfer of Apple Creek water to McDowell, a project the board has been trying to move forward for several years. The water available from Apple Creek is limited and of about the same quality that is now filling McDowell. The project isn’t about quality, Narum said, but about quantity.

Water board member Ken Royse said he suggested that someone from the board be appointed to meet with the various agencies that could be involved and gauge what their interest is. Narum appointed vice chairman Terry Fleck, who holds the board’s Missouri River portfolio, to the task.

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2008/02/13/news/local/148706.prt

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