The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has honoured representatives of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation with the C.D. "Buzz" Besadny Award for Fostering Great Lakes Partnerships.
The award, which the Commission presents annually at its meeting in Detroit, recognized SON members for their commitment to rehabilitate Denny’s Dam, a critical sea lamprey control structure, on the Saugeen River near Southampton.
In 1970, Denny’s Dam was reconstructed as a lamprey barrier, and since then - the river has only been treated with lampricide once, in 1971. If sea lampreys were to breach this barrier, the Saugeen River would likely require treatment every four to six years at a cost of more than $600,000 per treatment.
"Despite Denny’s Dam operating for nearly 50 years, the relationship between the Commission and SON is relatively new, having been initiated in 2015 as concern about the imminent failure of Denny’s Dam grew stronger," said Commissioner Tracey Mill while presenting the award to representatives of the SON. "The rehabilitation of Denny’s Dam was made possible by a shared understanding between the Commission and the SON that efforts to plan, design, engineer, construct and monitor the project would respect the SON’s aboriginal and treaty rights. The collaboration formed a basis of knowledge, trust, and a 'sleeves-rolled-up' environment where everyone was working on the ground and issues could be immediately raised and thoughtfully addressed.
"Without the SON’s collaboration, the Denny’s Dam rehabilitation project would not have been completed," Mill added.