Garrison Diversion maintains water facilities for agriculture and recreation

Tasked with keeping the facilities of the Garrison Diversion Unit (GDU) in proper working condition, Garrison Diversion Conservancy District (Garrison Diversion) employs 19 operations and maintenance (O&M) staff members. The agency's principal supply works include the New Rockford Canal, McClusky Canal and Snake Creek Pumping Plant (SCPP).

Garrison Diversion does not own the facilities. Rather, they are charged with operations and maintenance of the above facilities, working closely with the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). Garrison Diversion completes this O&M work under an Operations, Maintenance and Replacement Contract with Reclamation.

"We are doing our best to be good neighbors and good stewards and fulfill our agreements," said Kimberly Cook, Communications Director for Garrison Diversion.

As there is no water source for the New Rockford canal, Garrison Diversion engages in minimal maintenance of the structure as Reclamation determines. The water that is drawn from the New Rockford canal is all either groundwater or runoff.

In contrast, Missouri River water is delivered through the McClusky Canal each year to be used for livestock watering, irrigation, recreation, water quality improvements, and water for wildlife mitigation areas. Last year alone, 40,671 acre-feet of water were released down the McClusky Canal.

The agricultural community is among the beneficiaries of the McClusky Canal's water supply. There are multiple irrigation projects that have pumps in the canal, and irrigation pivots are fed from the Missouri River water, according to Cook. In 2021, approximately 8,000 acres of cropland were irrigated by the canal.

Cook said a 145-acre irrigation project is slated to be constructed in 2022, and nearly 2,000 more acres are in the early stages of development.

Water from the canal is also used for livestock watering. The Sheridan County Water Resource Board has a water service contract with Garrison Diversion to release water from the canal. Water is released from various points of the canal into different waterways (creeks/streams) to be picked up by ranchers as the water flows downstream. This provided a steady, guaranteed water supply for ranchers during last summer's drought.

Another, perhaps lesser known, function of the canal is providing water for recreation. The Chain of Lakes Recreation area along the McClusky Canal has four lakes: East Park Lake, West Park Lake, Heckers Lake and New Johns Lake. The McClusky Canal is important to the chain of lakes because water is pumped from the canal, as needed, in order to maintain optimal water levels for recreation.

Constructed in the 1980s, the Chain of Lakes is located 17 miles north of Wilton, on North Dakota Highway 41. Amenities include 62 designated campsites, a fish cleaning table, dump station, six vault toilets and three boat ramps.

Garrison Diversion provides basic maintenance of those recreation facilities at the directive of Reclamation. In 2021, O&M staff constructed a camp host site at East Park Lake, providing a place for a camp host to live through the summer season to supervise the Chain of Lakes Recreation Area.

Reclamation is now seeking a volunteer campground host for the 2022 recreation season at Chain of Lakes. Hosts are responsible for meeting and greeting campers, stocking brochures and restrooms, and general site appearance. Hosts are provided with a full hookup campsite and a small stipend to help cover incidental expenses.

The host will live on-site from mid-May through the first part of September. For more information, please contact Andrea Gue at 701-221-1223 or via email at [email protected].

Across the country, there are 289 Reclamation project areas that have developed recreation facilities and opportunities available for public use. Over 100 are managed by a federal recreation partner. Reclamation has approximately 6.5 million acres of land and water, most of which is available for public outdoor recreation. The 187 developed recreation areas managed by Reclamation, or a non-Federal recreation partner, draw over 24 million visits annually.

Last year, approximately 40,500 acre-feet of water was delivered through the McClusky Canal. Therefore, it is important to perform routine maintenance of GDU facilities to ensure they operate properly. Routine tasks include weed control, water operations and road maintenance.

In addition to regular canal maintenance, employees continued a major reconstruction project that started in 2016 to repair a one-mile stretch of the canal side slope, from mile marker (MM) 22 to MM 23.

The failing side slopes have reduced the water flow in the canal downstream of MM 22, approximately seven miles south of Turtle Lake. While the McClusky Canal was designed for 2,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) flows, the 100 cfs is flowing through at the slide area, reducing the amount of available water to irrigators downstream and presenting challenges in maintaining the Chain of Lakes at the desired locations. The work is being completed in cooperation with Reclamation.

O&M workers are flattening the currently failing 2-to-1 side slope to a more stable 4-to-1 slope. Overall, a total of 2.4 million cubic yards is estimated to be moved over the course of five to six years. In 2021, approximately 675,000 cubic yards of spoil material were removed from the area to stabilize the slope. To date, close to 90% of the spoil has been removed.

Once the spoil is removed and slope laid back, silt fence is installed and the area seeded to help with erosion control and establish vegetation.

Though the functions of the GDU features vary, the importance of maintaining them remains the same.

Editor's Note: Some of the information for this piece is reprinted from an article published in the March 2022 edition of the ND Water magazine, entitled "Garrison Diversion O&M Team Excels" written by Kimberly Cook.