It was a full day touring the Lake Region for over 140 participants in the Devils Lake Solutions Water Tour on Thursday. They left the Ramsey County Courthouse at 8:30 a.m. and returned at 5 p.m.
Jeff Frith, Devils Lake Basin Joint Water Resources manager, said it was a good day, but a long, full one.
There is a great deal of work involved in putting the tours together, but according to Frith, it’s all worth it to inform and educate people.
“I would lead one of these tours every day if I could,” Frith said. That’s how important it is to get the message out about what is happening in the Devils Lake Basin.
“You can read about it, see pictures, watch news on the TV, but there’s nothing like seeing it first-hand to know the impact of all this flooding on the area,” he continued.
This was the eighth year in a row they have offered the tour and it was the biggest one ever - they had to use three full-sized buses to fit everyone.
The participants of the tour headed east first to the community of Michigan on the way viewing the inundated acres all along Old Highway 2 and Nelson County No. 1. They were unable to get too close to many areas because of the condition of the non-paved roads, but Frith said they could see a lot from the highway.
One of the places they viewed was the Fenster Slough area that threatens five or six farmsteads east of the city of Devils Lake.
The slough has grown from covering an area of around 600 acres to 2,000 acres. Frith said it now covers an area 14 miles across.
“In fact, the Ramsey County Water Resource District Board is holding a special meeting this morning [Friday] to address Fenster Slough,” Frith said.
At Michigan they met with city officials who told them about the problems their city has been having with rising water in the area including Lake Laretta. Their entire water and sewer system has been conpromised.
From Michigan the tour stopped at Stump Lake to view the damage there and to have lunch in the 80-year old pavillion, which is one of the buildings in the park that is protected by Hesco barriers filled with sand from the National Guard.
From there the tour continued through the Spirit Lake Nation viewing the several BIA roads that are currently under construction or roads acting as dams.
The next stop - the Devils Lake west-end outlet.
Frith said unfortunately the huge new pumps at the State Outlet were not operating at that time but tour goers were able to see what 100 cfs flow looks like. By the end of the month he said the flows will be up to 250 cfs, if all goes as planned.
A trip through the flood-devastated community of Minnewaukan and back to Devils Lake on Highway 19 rounded out the tour.
One of the individuals on the tour, Dwayne Herman, could not get over how much water and damage he saw.
“Until you see it first-hand or from the air, you just have no idea the sheer extent of it all - it is mind boggling,” Herman said.
He took a series of pictures throughout the tour and was most impressed with the Tolna Coulee area.
“Do you realize that all we’d have to do is clean out about five feet of the coulee for maybe the length of one mile and the outlet would flow?” he asked.
“I don’t think people realize that,” he added.
The Devils Lake Solutions Tour is a joint effort of the Devils Lake Basin Joint Water Resource Board and the North Dakota Water Education Foundation.
Devils Lake, ND —
