Manitoba Hydro employees at the Grand Rapids Hatchery tagging sturgeon prior to stocking.Provided
Since she started with Manitoba Hydro 14 years ago, Stephanie Backhouse has been encouraged to think outside the box about how to improve the environment. “People here recognize past impacts of hydroelectric power plants and empower employees to work collaboratively to figure out what needs to be done and do it,” says Backhouse, now a senior environmental specialist.
Manitoba Hydro is one of the largest integrated electricity and natural gas distribution utilities in Canada. The provincial Crown corporation has its head office in Winnipeg with operations throughout Manitoba.
“We have had an environmental management system in place since the early 2000s,” says Allison Zacharias, manager, generation environmental services. “At Manitoba Hydro, environmental employees work with communities and other stakeholders to monitor and try to understand environmental issues and mitigate the impacts of power generation.”
One area where Manitoba Hydro is making a difference is with sturgeon stocking in Manitoba waterways. Backhouse explains that starting in the late 1800s commercial fisheries depleted sturgeon stocks. Habitat changes resulting from the construction and operation of hydroelectric generating stations further impacted populations. Conservation stocking programs help to recover sturgeon populations to a level at which they are self-sustaining.
Manitoba Hydro’s Grand Rapids Fish Hatchery undertakes lake sturgeon stocking programs on the Nelson River in northern Manitoba, in collaboration with the Nelson River Sturgeon Board and the Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership. Every spring, the hatchery co-ordinates with other stakeholders to collect fish eggs in northern Manitoba. Lake sturgeon eggs are collected from the Nelson and Burntwood rivers and brought back to the hatchery to grow. These sturgeon are then stocked as fingerlings or yearlings into their native waterways to support populations in the area.
“We’ve been restocking sturgeon in the Upper Nelson River for more than 20 years, and for nine years in the area around the new Keeyask Generating Station,” says Backhouse, who supervises staff at the hatchery. “Monitoring shows us that stocked sturgeon are growing, and we hope they will soon start reproducing in the wild. The goal is for sturgeon stocking to contribute to the recovery of sturgeon populations.”
Recognizing the significance of sturgeon throughout Manitoba, and the cultural importance to Indigenous communities, Manitoba Hydro developed the Lake Sturgeon Stewardship and Enhancement Program (LSSEP) in 2008. It consolidates the work to maintain and enhance lake sturgeon populations in areas affected by its operations, now and in the future.
Within the LSSEP program, Manitoba Hydro works to address information gaps, provide resources, initiate research and work collaboratively with the Nelson River and Saskatchewan River sturgeon management boards, Indigenous communities and the provincial and federal government to improve the effectiveness of the conservation strategies being implemented.
Backhouse finds her day-to-day work is varied. She works with Hydro engineers and the Manitoba government on environmental mitigation. She meets with Indigenous groups to develop collaborative monitoring and research, and to hear and try to address concerns about environmental impacts. She also works with regulators on monitoring and reporting.
“There are lots of people at Manitoba Hydro working on a variety of environmental topics. We have a network of environmental colleagues who collaborate and support each other,” says Backhouse. “I work with people who care about relationships with others and are motivated to make a positive difference.”
“Ever since I started working at Hydro in 2001 there has been a strong focus on doing the right thing for the environment,” says Zacharias.
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