Lake Sakakawea in Peril

By Doug Leier

Seldom does a week pass without news, political or biological, relating to declining water levels in North Dakota’s huge Missouri River reservoirs. I wonder if people have heard the message so much they are starting to become numb to it.

And yet, the message is important. Lake Oahe is at its lowest level since it first reached full pool in the late 1960s. At full pool, Oahe stretches from Oahe Dam north of Pierre, S.D. more than 200 miles north, almost to Bismarck. At its current level the “lake” part of Oahe no longer exists in North Dakota. What remains is the Missouri River, back in its old channel.

As recently as 1997 I boated and fished what is known as Beaver Bay about 20 miles north of the South Dakota border. While beaver were scarce, the bay was a popular fishing and recreation area. Today, the only water is in the bay’s namesake, Beaver Creek – Beaver Flats would be a more accurate description.

This happened once before, in the early 1990s, though Oahe’s water level did not go quite as low as it is now.

I’ve cast crankbaits on the Van Hook Arm of Lake Sakakawea, a couple of hundred miles to the north and west of Beaver Bay, near New Town. If you haven’t visited lately a simple WOW doesn’t do justice. I lived a 20-minute drive north of Van Hook in Stanley in the mid-1990s. Fish were plentiful and water was not an issue.

Water is an issue today, but perhaps all the attention hasn’t quite hit home with most people yet because fish are still plentiful in Sakakawea, and as of last fall, you could still get a boat on the lake. But just like the fate of the Titanic, what appears normal on the surface may not be so normal below.

Lake Sakakawea is by far North Dakota’s number one recreational fishery, followed by Oahe when it has water, and then Devils Lake. But Lake Sakakawea’s world-class fishery is in jeopardy. No, the walleyes and salmon and pike aren’t all going to die, but because of low water their world is starting to tip out of balance.

Low water levels threaten the deep, coldwater habitat that allows rainbow smelt to survive in the reservoir and provide forage for gamefish. If the smelt population crashes, which it did more than a decade ago when similar water levels prevailed, walleyes will suffer. They won’t grow as fast and the lake won’t be able to support as many.

Access is also a concern. Once you get more than about 20 miles south of Bismarck, what used to be Lake Oahe doesn’t have one public boat ramp in a stretch of some 60 miles that will get you to the water.

At Sakakawea, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other local government agencies and fishing clubs have worked hard to develop alternative access points where old ramps were left high and dry.

Unless something unforeseen happens, Sakakawea will recede to a new record low level this spring. When the ice goes out, people will renew efforts to maintain access and if anglers are able to get on the lake, fishing will probably be good … for awhile.

But then what? We can only hope for a turnaround in weather patterns so snowpack in the Rocky Mountains starts adding water to the Missouri River in North Dakota. Recovery can come quickly, as we saw 10 years ago, or it could be slow.

Either way, as discharge information and snow pack and runoff potential are released throughout the winter, learn as much as you can about these important factors. The future of some of North Dakota’s most important recreational resources is at stake.

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