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NRBS - Home Table of Contents		Northern River Basins Study Final Report 1.0 Background 1.2 The Peace River The Peace River has its origin in hundreds of cold mountain streams in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. Each spring, water from melting snow and ice trickles down from the mountains and eventually drains into Williston Lake, the largest man-made lake in British Columbia. Less than 30 years ago, the northern and southern ends of the reservoir would have appeared as the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers. The rivers have since been backflooded by the creation of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam near the town of Hudson's Hope, British Columbia. Williston Lake feeds the dam's hydroelectric generators, and the Peace River now flows from the reservoir's eastern arm. [Photo new040: The W.A.C. Bennett Dam in British Columbia] The Bennett Dam has altered the flow and characteristics of the Peace River. Unrestricted, the level of the Peace River varied seasonally high flow in the spring and low flow in the winter. The dam dampens these highs and lows to ensure peak energy generation potential during the winter months when electrical demands are high. Moreover, the water that passes through the dam is drawn from the lower portion of Williston Lake that remains unfrozen during the winter. These changes in water levels and temperature can alter many aspects of the ecosystem, such as the quantity of habitat, the movements of fish and animals, and the period to which the river remains frozen (see Section 3.5 for more information related to the Bennett Dam and its effects). The reservoir is used by local pulp and paper mills as a corridor for transporting logs and as an outlet for their waste waters. There are three mills located in the general area of Williston Lake. The Fletcher Challenge and Finlay Forest Industries mills are located in the town of Mackenzie. The Louisiana-Pacific mill, which is located further east in the town of Chetwynd, does not rely on local surface water supplies and has little or no impact on water quality. The two mills in Mackenzie, however, are licensed to discharge waste effluent into the reservoir and, ultimately, these wastes flow into the Peace River.
NRBS - Home Table of Contents Top of Page		The flow of water past the Bennett Dam marks the beginning of the Peace River. The river flows eastward, carving a deep chasm in the undulating landscape and passes through the Peace Canyon Dam. It is joined by the Halfway River to the north and passes near Fort St. Johnóthe oldest white settlement on mainland British Columbia and a former outpost of the fur trade. Further east, the Peace is joined by the Pine River near the town of Taylor, where it encounters the Fibreco pulp mill. The river then crosses the border into Alberta's northern agricultural regionóan area that stretches south to the city of Grande Prairie and north along the river to the town of Fort Vermilion. Much of the soil in this area once lay at the bottom of ancient glacial-meltwater lakes. Today, the gently rolling plains surrounding the river are a patchwork of fields and forests. Canola, alfalfa, clover and oats are a few of the region's main crops (see Section 3.2 for more information related to agriculture). Aspen and balsam poplar dominate the forests, often interspersed with white spruce and jack pine. [Photo 5 on CD3: Canola fields in northern Alberta.] The river passes south of the town of Fairview, traversing a high, walled canyon-like reach that was studied during the mid-1980s as a possible site for the Dunvegan Dam and Reservoir. The Peace is later joined by the Smoky River from the south. Together with its tributaries, the Smoky River drains roughly 20 per cent of the Peace River basin and extends as far south as Jasper National Park. As with any tributary, the Smoky brings with it the history of its journey, written in the nutrient and chemical contents of its waters. The areas that the river drains are developed extensively for forestry, agriculture, coal, oil and gas. The river also receives effluent from the Weyerhaeuser Canada pulp mill through one of its major tributariesó the Wapiti River. Just past its picturesque confluence with the Smoky River, the Peace flows past the town of Peace River. Here the river cuts deep into the surrounding grasslands to form a green valley surrounded by high, steep bluffs. The Daishowa-Marubeni pulp mill is located roughly 25 km north of the town. A little further north, the Cadotte River joins with the Peace River. The Cadotte River is not a major tributary to the Peace, but it drains an area that is underlain by a relatively large oil sands deposit. Commercial-scale operations are currently underway to extract and refine this non-conventional source of oil. The extraction process involves injecting pressurized steam into the deposit to melt the tar and places demand on local surface water supplies. The mixture of tar and water is then pumped out of the ground and refined. The agricultural corridor surrounding the Peace River continues as the river travels north past the Métis Settlement of Paddle Prairie. Further on the river veers east, passing near various native settlements representing Dene Tha', Cree and Beaver nations. Agricultural development along the Peace River slowly phases out east of Fort Vermilion, a town that is over 200 years old and a former outpost of the fur trade. [Photo 032 on CD1: Beaver Indian trading in a Hudson's Bay Co. store in Fort Vermilion, circa 1890.]
NRBS - Home Table of Contents Top of Page		Outside the town of Fort Vermilion, the Peace is joined by one of its major tributaries, the Wabasca River. Each year, cobble and other materials are washed down the Wabasca, forming a fan-shaped bank of material at the river's mouth. Historically, spring floods on the Peace River have stripped away these banks of material and washed them towards the Peace-Athabasca Delta. Many speculate that the Bennett Dam has reduced the Peace River's ability to "scour" away these deposits, resulting in a growing bank of material. East of the Wabasca, the Peace River passes through the Vermilion Chutes rapids. During certain times of the year, these rapids have drops of three to five metersóposing a major obstacle for river travel and fish movements. The Caribou Mountains lie to the northóan area of peat, lichen, black spruce and permafrost. Further to the east, the Peace passes the Jean D'or Prairie and Fox Lake Indian reserves before entering Wood Buffalo National Park. The park is noted for one of the world's largest free-roaming herds of bison and is recognized as a world heritage site. Finally, the Peace River finishes its 2000 km trek as it joins with outflow from the Peace-Athabasca Delta to form the Slave River. [Photo 4 on CD 3: no caption]

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