Yukon Energy’s plan to lower the level of Marsh Lake below the level approved in its water licence is receiving mixed reviews.

The Yukon Water Board held a public hearing process into the Crown corporation’s emergency application through written submissions. The hearing closed last Wednesday with four submissions received.

Yukon Energy maintains that lowering Marsh Lake by an additional 10 centimetres early this spring before the spring melt kicks into high gear would give it that much extra room to mitigate the chance of flooding.

In an interview earlier this month, Yukon Energy president Andrew Hall said Marsh Lake is 50 centimetres below where it was at this time last year.

There was extreme flooding last year in the Southern Lakes and along the Yukon River, and a Shallow Bay family was forced to leave their home due to high waters.

Hall said officials expect to avoid flooding this year, given the circumstances.

The Kwanlin Dun First Nation wrote in its written submission to the Yukon Water Board that it supports the granting of the emergency amendment.

The First Nation says it does not believe a public hearing is necessary at this time, as timing is of the essence in this situation.

“Lowering the water levels of Marsh Lake should help reduce the inundation and erosion of KDFN settlement land along the northeastern shore of Marsh Lake,” says Kwanlin Dun’s submission. “Controlling water levels will hopefully protect the KDFN settlement lands and the citizen residences along the left bank of the Yukon River below the Lewes Dam and other settlement land parcels downstream of the Whitehorse Rapids Dam.”

Kwanlin Dun did, however, express concern with the environmental impact of lowering water levels in the spring.

There are concerns with the potential impact to fish spawning and rearing along the shoreline of Marsh Lake. There is a concern about the impact on waterfowl, as decreased water levels could destroy staging, feeding and nesting areas, says the submission.

Kwanlin Dun notes it asked Yukon Energy last April to carry out an observational study of the Lewes-Marsh Habitat Protection Area and downstream of the Whitehorse Dam, though it is not certain if one was carried out.

Lake Laberge residents Andrea and Florian Lemphers wrote in their submission that a requested amendment by Yukon Energy last year was not granted until April 28.

It says having the application for an amendment being heard a month earlier this year should prove to be more beneficial.

“It is prudent to act as quickly as possible on this matter,” says the submission by the Lemphers family, whose Shallow Bay home was flooded last year.

“We believe that if the YWB does not take a timely decision that there is a clear and present danger that we will all be repeating the experience from last year, which we of course would not like to repeat.”

The territorial government’s submission on Yukon Energy’s application notes that given the current snowpack conditions, there is the potential for high water conditions to emerge in the Southern Lakes.

The current snowpack contained a snow water equivalent that was 23 per cent above normal on Feb. 2, with a forecast of 60 per cent above normal by the end of winter.

Tlingit elder Harold Gatensby wrote the effects of Yukon Energy managing water levels – “a completely unnatural event” – is already having a negative impact on the environment.

Gatensby writes he has grown up on the Southern Lakes, and he no longer sees muskrat houses on the lake or beaver lodges on the shore.

“Used to see frogs on the beach but not any more,” says his submission.

“I don’t know if it is impacting the fingerling fish. I have lived on the shores of the Southern Lakes most of my life so I can see the impact of turning out life-giving Southern Lakes into the biggest battery of the North.

“Batteries are toxic. They pollute and contaminate.”

Gatensby says in his submission that of all the Indigenous people he’s talked to, none were ever consulted about using the Southern Lakes as a source of hydroelectricity.

“The Indigenous people I talked to are against this unnatural level changing or our lakes, but we’re never given the opportunity to express their concerns