Residents of one of B.C.'s smallest towns are lining up to save the province's biggest natural lake from a proposed hydro scheme by Yukon Energy Corp.

Atlin, with a population of about 400, is opposed to Yukon Energy's proposal to put a submerged weir in B.C.'s Atlin River as a way to reduce flows from Atlin Lake in fall and allow more water to be used in winter months, when electrical loads are highest.

Residents don't want anyone interfering with one of the most pristine and beautiful wilderness lakes in B.C. and are urging the provincial government to make the Atlin River a formal protected area and officially sink the Yukon plan.

"We're a little tiny town, but we're fighting a pretty good battle here," Wayne Merry, president of the Protect Atlin Lake Society, said Wednesday.

Atlin is located in northwestern B.C., about 180 kilometres south of Whitehorse, with its road access through Yukon.

The Atlin River flows almost five kilometres from the west side of Atlin Lake into Tagish Lake, then drains northward into Yukon to Marsh Lake and the Yukon River.

Residents fear that altered water temperatures in the lake could affect fish spawning, that lake ice could become more dangerous for snowmobiling, and that greater wave action at high-water levels could damage the shoreline, including campsites and docks.

Merry said lake levels can fluctuate close to two metres year-round, although the windy season generally occurs shortly after the lake has reached its peak around mid-August as cooler weather reduces run-off from the surrounding glaciers.

"The combination of high winds and higher water would create quite a bit of damage," he warned.

To protect against the Yukon Energy proposal, residents urge the Atlin River be designated a protected area rather than a resource management zone under the provincial Atlin Taku land-use plan, which is in its final draft stage.

Merry said the province has remained "remarkably quiet" during the process.

"They've essentially said they'll look at the proposal," said the former chief ranger for Alaska's Denali National Park and a full-time resident of Atlin since 1990. "It's an interesting position because there is no benefit whatsoever to B.C."

B.C. Environment Minister Murray Coell could not be reached to comment Wednesday.

The ministry did release a statement to The Sun, saying that "to balance interests, the B.C. government must ensure that all proposals receive full and fair evaluations" and that "this project will only proceed if it can be shown that the benefits outweigh any impact on the ecology of Atlin Lake and the surrounding areas."

While the proposed project is not large enough to trigger the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office process, Yukon Energy is aware it would require a water licence through the B.C. Ministry of Natural Resource Operations, the province said.

Yukon Energy says community fears are exaggerated and that "lake levels would not be raised above what they are now during the summer months," according to its website.

Since 40 per cent of the water at its Whitehorse power facility comes from the Atlin River, Yukon Energy "cannot ignore the potential of using that water more efficiently."

The publicly owned electrical utility notes the weir would allow for both boat and fish passage and could displace between 2.5 and five million litres of diesel per year used for generator electrical production and avoid the production of up to 12,600 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. The weir could also be used for flood management on the lake.

Yukon Energy confirms that no decision has been made, that studies are ongoing, and it is committed to "meaningful discussions" with the Taku River Tlingit First Nation, Atlin residents, and the province.

Chloe O'Loughlin, executive director of the B.C. chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, called on the province to immediately kill the Yukon plan and ensure that Atlin Lake does not become a reservoir.

"There is an opportunity in the land-use plan to say there will be nothing allowed that negatively impacts on the lake. There is a window of opportunity to put it to bed forever."

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