Canada’s RAP Progress Report 2003

Nipigon Bay

Nipigon Bay occupies the most northerly area of Lake Superior. The Area of Concern encompasses a large portion of Nipigon Bay and, its most notable feature, the Nipigon River. Originating at the outflow of Lake Nipigon, the river is the largest single tributary to Lake Superior and is an important source of hydroelectricity. While the northern demarcation of the AOC is the first Ontario Hydro dam on the river upstream from the bay, the AOC informally includes the watershed of Lake Nipigon. The two communities associated with the AOC are the Towns of Red Rock and Nipigon Bay.

The area supports a variety of wetlands and a bird community that is more diverse than is typical for this latitude. Colonial birds and raptors are plentiful and healthy. One of the two known pelican colonies in Ontario is located here. The presence of this integrator species is indicative of a healthy ecosystem. Licensed trapping of fur-bearing mammals continues today and no declines in abundance are reported.

The watershed forests on both sides of the Nipigon River have been allocated to forestry companies and employment in the area is dependent on the forest-based industry. While there has been a 15 percent decline in the populations of Red Rock and Nipigon Bay communities in the past 30 years, there are now hopeful signs of socio-economic diversification through marinas and tourism. Environmental restoration projects carried out in the area between 1991 and 1997 such as the Nipigon and Red Rock Marina created temporary jobs, long-term employment and some new business investment. Nipigon and Red Rock figure prominently in the National Marine Conservation Area proposal by Parks Canada. If approved, Nipigon will be home to Central Administration for the Park, and Red Rock will host the Marine Operations Base.

IMPAIRMENTS

The main stresses on the ecosystem are related to water level and flow fluctuations in Lake Nipigon and the Nipigon River. The stresses result from the generation of hydroelectricity, the accumulation of wood fibre, bark and other organic matter from historic log drives, effluent discharge from the linerboard mill (Norampac) and from the primary sewage treatment plants in Nipigon and Red Rock.

There are five beneficial use impairments remaining in the Nipigon Bay AOC. Three others have been fully restored. The five impairments for the Nipigon Bay AOC are:

• degradation of fish and wildlife populations - particularly the loss of walleye and yellow perch fisheries and decline in the brook trout attributed to degraded water quality; habitat loss; over exploitation; invasion of exotics; and sea lamprey predation. Lake trout stocks have also declined largely because of overfishing and sea lamprey predation;
• degradation of benthos in the vicinity of the Nipigon water pollution control plant outfall;
• undesirable algal growth on substrates in the lower Nipigon River;
• degradation of aesthetics on the waterfront caused by the buoyant mill effluent (foam) from the mill and by industrial development along the waterfront; and
• losses of habitat in the Nipigon River because of historical log drives that caused physical scouring, transport of substrate, and removal of instream habitat. Water level fluctuations from the generation of electricity continue to affect streambank erosion and sediment load.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Federal and provincial agencies have been working for a number of years to restore environmental quality in the Nipigon AOC. This has involved projects and cooperative activities with the Towns of Red Rock and Nipigon and other agencies and local environmental groups located in the AOC.

Most of the 18 remedial actions recommended in the 1995-96 Stage 2 RAP report have been implemented and federal actions have been completed in Nipigon Bay.

Since 1990, the GLSF has provided $1.4M towards eight projects restoring impaired beneficial uses in the AOC primarily for habitat rehabilitation. To date 18 partnerships have leveraged more than $4.3M in partner contributions. A notable success has been the development of a marina at Red Rock that incorporates public access and fish and wildlife habitat into armour stone breakwalls.

A number of other projects have been completed to enhance fish and wildlife communities and to rehabilitate degraded aquatic and terrestrial habitat. Logs and debris were removed from historic spawning areas in the lower Nipigon River. Clean up of a former wetland site has resulted in natural regeneration of wetland features. A fish stocking program was used to rejuvenate the walleye population in Nipigon Bay over a three year period. A community based effort was instrumental in the clean up and restoration of habitat in and around a once productive and aesthetically acceptable coaster brook trout stream. With the exception of the Clearwater Creek rehabilitation, all projects recommended in the Stage 2 RAP are completed and monitoring is ongoing. Work to rehabilitate brook trout and lake trout is continuing under the mandates of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the Lake Superior Lakewide Management Plan (LaMP).

The Nipigon River Water Management Plan (NRWMP) was established through public involvement in 1994 to reduce the impacts of the operation of hydroelectric dams on the Lake Nipigon and the Nipigon River watershed and particularly on the Nipigon River fishery. The Ontario Power Generation Operating Plan was released in 2000. The plan was established in response to water level fluctuations that resulted in the exposure of coaster brook trout spawning beds and affected the groundwater supply critical to the survival of the trout embryos. The plan expands on an interim agreement between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ontario Power Generation to maintain minimum flows. By actions directed at coaster brook trout, other fish, wildlife, and benthic populations in the ecosystem will benefit by a more natural cycle of river flow. The NRWMP has provided a workable solution to water use conflicts arising from regulated flows and a restored brook trout population at Clearwater Creek.

Norampac at a cost of $25M has installed secondary treatment for its mill effluent using aeration stabilization basin technology. This has greatly reduced the contaminant loads to the Nipigon River from the mill and monitoring of fish populations in the vicinity of the outfall show that they are now generally unaffected. The effluent meets Provincial MISA requirements but occasional upsets do occur and their nature is currently being investigated by the MOE.

PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT

The Nipigon Bay PAC represented a spectrum of interests from the community and was actively engaged in developing the recommendations for the RAP. The stage 2 RAP report was completed in 1996 and includes an implementation annex.

OUTSTANDING ISSUES

The Town of Nipigon has completed an environmental study to identify options for upgrading its primary municipal wastewater treatment plant. By way of background a preliminary study which looked at connecting the Town of Red Rock’s sewage with the Norampac pulp and paper mill sewage treatment lagoon was completed. The GLSF may consider supporting a detailed assessment of options. The Towns of Red Rock and Nipigon are positioned to take advantage of available federal/provincial infrastructure funding to make improvements to their wastewater sewage treatment systems. Costs are estimated to be $500K to $2M for Red Rock and up to $3M for Nipigon and full implementation could be possible within the next three years contingent on funding availability. If these upgrades do not proceed, the area will continue to remain an Area of Concern.

The discovery of a mineral deposit under Nipigon Bay containing nickel raises the potential for mining in the AOC.

FUTURE ACTIONS

The Nipigon River population of coaster brook trout is a remnant of the former extensive range of this species. Knowledge of the range, population and lifecycle of this species is critical to its enhancement and protection. Habitat projects and rehabilitation methods for brook trout and walleye will be assessed. Sampling of sport fish for contaminant burdens is underway to confirm that levels continue to be below guidelines set for contaminants with local sources. Complete removal of sportfish consumption advisories will depend on the attenuation of out of basin sources of toxaphene, however this does not affect the status of the BUI.

DELISTING OUTLOOK

Substantial improvements in the environmental conditions in the Nipigon Bay AOC have occurred due to implementation of the RAP recommendations. The status of the five BUIs needs to be reviewed to determine if delisting of individual BUIs is now possible:

• degradation of fish and wildlife populations - progress has been made through habitat and stocking programs to rehabilitate walleye and book trout populations. Lake trout rehabilitation and sea lamprey control are ongoing;
• degradation of benthos - with the installation of secondary treatment at the Norampac mill the remaining link to this impairment is the Town of Nipigon sewage treatment plant;
• undesirable growth of algae - not currently considered an issue;
• degradation of aesthetics - with the upgrade to secondary treatment at the mill, foam along the waterfront is no longer an issue;
• loss of fish and wildlife habitat - there is no longer evidence of physical scouring or substrate removal.

Full delisting of the Nipigon Bay AOC is conditional on the completion of upgrades to the Red Rock and Nipigon sewage treatment plants to provide full secondary treatment and correcting the inflow and infiltration problems in the sewer systems of these two municipalities. Financial support is needed from federal/provincial infrastructure funding programs to expedite these actions.

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