In British Columbia, the Semá:th Xó:tsa, or Sumas Lake, nourished the indigenous First Nations for centuries. The lake provided fish, fowl, wild nuts, and fruits, as well as a means of traveling quickly to elk hunting grounds. But in the 1920s, settlers to the area drained the entire lake to establish European-style farming, which has remained ever since.
And now, in an ironic twist of fate, immense precipitation exacerbated by global overheating may inadvertently return the lake to its former levels, environmental news nonprofit Mongabay reported.
The lake has now experienced several seasons of unprecedented rain and flooding, which researchers estimate was made approximately 60% more likely by the changing climate, per research in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes. This was due to both the precipitation levels and higher rates of snowmelt because of hotter temperatures.
"It rained like I'd never seen before," Mongabay quoted Matt Dykshoorn, a local dairy farmer, as saying. "It was beyond comprehension for a lot of people. … They just didn't know what they were up against."
Lake Mead, a reservoir connected to the Hoover Dam that has consistently been below capacity since 1983, experienced a similar phenomenon earlier this year.
With the weather patterns not expected to change, the Semá:th community is racing to assess whether or not they should work to manage their flood mitigation systems or instead reestablish the lake.
To that end, a collaborative team of both Semá:th people and researchers at the University of British Columbia published a paper assessing the viability of refilling the lake. While it would require massive relocation for farmers and several major pieces of infrastructure, they argue it would ultimately save the community the cost of constant upkeep and make them more climate-resilient for the future.
Troy Ganzeveld, councilor for the Semá:th Nation, told Mongabay: "Our membership is in support of trying to live with water instead of fighting against it. Over the last over 100 years, that's been happening — trying to fight Mother Nature."
Murray Ned, executive director of the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance and a co-author of the UBC paper, added: "We have a one-in-a-100-years' chance to reconcile what happened in 1924. So this is probably our first and only chance, where we'll have the ability to influence the way forward."
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