User:ReubenLi/Vermilion River (Sudbury District)

Article Draft
https://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/search-place-names/unique?id=FCZTZ < Vermilion River visualized

Government of Canada (16 February 2021). Search the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB): Vermilion River. Retrieved 1 August 2022.

Lead Section - Vermilion River (Sudbury District)
(Ojibwa/Odawa: Atikamgzib or Dikmegzubi meaning “whitefish river”)

River modifications
The dam is owned by Vale Canada (Vale) a subsidiary of Vale S.A. headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The corporation has been criticized for environmental and indigenous concerns in the past, however, has been cooperating with locals and organizations to increase community relations in recent years.

Hydroelectricity
See also: Environmental impact assessment In 2011, four run-of-the-river hydroelectric generating stations (GS) have been proposed along the Vermilion River as well as several flood control structures to increase water security in Sudbury, Ontario. Under Harper's administration, due to revisions in the former Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, the new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, 2012 pardoned several projects from undertaking environmental assessments generating backlash from the community and local not-for-profit grassroot organizations. In 2016, a response from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), declared 4 Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) contracts terminated in the Vermilion River, including the Wabagishik Rapids, Cascade Rapids, McPherson Rapids, and At Soo Crossings in addition to several other sites proposed by Xeneca Power Development Inc. (Xeneca).

Most notably, the Wabagishik Rapids Hydroelectric GS conducted by Xeneca between 2011-2015, proposed the construction of a modified run-of-the-river dam supplying about 1,600 homes with green renewable energy. Wabagishik Rapids GS is the one of five hydroelectric dams enlisted by Xeneca to provide green energy for the Sudbury Nickel District. The project was confronted with community backlash, including the Vermilion River Stewards, Ontario Rivers Alliance, the Whitefish River First Nations and several other indigenous groups aimed to conserve the local riverine ecosystem. More than twenty individuals and organizations advocated against the proposed dam, and in May 2016, the community was made aware that the project was terminated as of September 2015.

In 2016, twenty-seven flow control structures and generating facilities owned by 12 different corporations have been recorded within the Vermilion watershed. Persistent advocacy by the Vermilion River Stewards, Ontario Rivers Alliance, indigenous groups and community members have reduced the quantity of water control structures throughout the Spanish and Vermilion watersheds. Concerns attributed to existing social and environmental issues involving Vale Canada on the Wabagishik dam combined with a lack of transparency and regards for environmental assessments taken by Xeneca have led to a mutual dispute over new developments on the Vermilion River.

Ecology
See also: Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Lake sturgeon

Surrounding the Vermilion River are aquatic, terrestrial, and wetland ecosystems, where 10 species were identified as threatened from the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) and Species at Risk Act (SARA) index in a report from 2013. Along the lower Vermilion River, it serves as biodiverse ecosystem for deer, birds, herpetofauna, conifers, and other vegetation communities. For instance, 7 bird species were identified as threatened out of 96 species observed in 2010. A total of 106 plant species were observed in 8 forest and wetland communities containing distinct dominant species and habitat characteristics. Between 2010-2011, a total of 22 fish species were identified in the lower Vermilion River, including white sucker, lake sturgeon, johnny darter, smallmouth bass, rock bass, shorthead redhorse, logperch, longnose dace, burbot, golden redhorse, northern redbelly dace, yellow perch, pumpkinseed, central mudminnow, bluntnose minnow, fathead minnow, emerald shiner, brook stickleback, lake herring and spawning habitat for walleye and northern pike. Between 2006-2017, COSEWIC listed lake sturgeon as a threatened species in the Great Lakes - Upper St. Lawrence populations. Poor water quality, habitat fragmentation, and regulated water flows are responsible for the decline of lake sturgeon in North America, often caused by dams and other flow control structures.

Other contributions
Minor edits to 'River modifications'

Divided tributaries into three columns (instead of one)