{"id":454,"date":"2011-09-22T16:35:34","date_gmt":"2011-09-22T23:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obwb.ca\/blog\/?p=454"},"modified":"2014-08-22T14:07:26","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T21:07:26","slug":"an-international-watershed-board-for-osoyoos-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obwb.ca\/blog\/2011\/09\/an-international-watershed-board-for-osoyoos-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"An international watershed board for Osoyoos Lake?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“As I looked down, I saw a large river meandering slowly along for miles, passing from one country to another without stopping. I also saw huge forests, extending along several borders. And I watched the extent of one ocean touch the shores of separate continents. Two words leaped to mind as I looked down on all this: commonality and interdependence. We are one world<\/em>.” – John-David Bartoe, astronaut<\/p>\n

The one time I went to a reunion with my grandmother, I couldn\u2019t get over how much these new-found relatives looked just like me (big smiles, round faces). My family had doubled in size overnight. That\u2019s the feeling I had this week at the bi-national Osoyoos Lake Water Science Forum<\/a>. Our Canadian maps may stop at the 49th<\/sup>parallel, but the basin continues south and includes a larger watershed family. If we are going to use the slogan, \u201cOne Valley, One Water,\u201d we have to think bigger.<\/p>\n

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Osoyoos Lake from space, where the distinctions blur between where one jurisdiction begins and another ends.<\/p><\/div>\n

Alex Louie, who filmed the proceedings for the Osoyoos Indian Band, reminded the group that from the indigenous point of view, the international border doesn\u2019t exist. The Colville Confederated Tribes are the same people as the Okanagan Nation. Looking around the room, you could\u00a0mostly\u00a0say the same about the residents of Oroville and Osoyoos (the U.S. and Canadian towns along the lakeshore), or even the visiting university and agency people \u2013 shared values, shared backgrounds, shared interests.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that Osoyoos Lake will be healthier if we can take a common, ecosystem-based approach to water quality and water supply problems. Lake levels, flow rates, watermilfoil control, shoreline access and zoning all lend themselves to collaborative processes.\u00a0 On the other hand, we can\u2019t just throw nationhood and politics out the window.<\/p>\n

Water (ironically enough) is a highly inflammatory issue.<\/p>\n

The International Joint Commission <\/a>(IJC) was formed by the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, to \u201cprevent and resolve\u201d disputes between the U.S. and Canada. The IJC oversees the Osoyoos Lake Board of Control <\/a>(est. 1946), which carries out the treaty provisions established by the Commission. In practice, this has involved yearly public meetings with local residents, and communicating with the dam operator about raising or lowering lake levels.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe power and force of Mother Nature is great. What the IJC can do is ensure the best possible use of the science in its decisions with respect for diversity of needs, ecology, and peoples. By listening, we will find the best solutions with what Mother Nature is giving us to deal with.\u201d Lana Pollock, Chair of the IJC's US section, speaking in Osoyoos. IJC Commissioner Lyall Knot looks on.<\/p><\/div>\n

The narrowness of the current Board\u2019s mandate leaves a lot of local issues unresolved, and now the IJC has placed a new idea on the table \u2013 establishing an International Watershed Board for Osoyoos Lake, with funding through the International Watershed Initiative<\/a>. According to a January 2009 <\/a>report, where Watershed Boards have been established in other areas, they work on:\u00a0<\/p>\n