With a warmer start to winter and low levels of precipitation, road crews in northern Ontario have been working vigorously to get the routes to remote First Nations ready, even having to make their own snow. Here are the challenges faced by communities and their ideas on how to make roads more sustainable.
Some First Nation leaders and people who work on the winter ice roads in northwestern Ontario say the season was a good one this year, despite climate change gradually eating away at its length.
Each winter, tractor-trailers make their way into remote, fly-in First Nations via crossings over frozen lakes and streams, delivering fuel, building supplies and other large loads that are hard and costly to transport by air. Warm weather in recent years has led to shorter seasons and slushy conditions, but nature has provided a reprieve this year, according to officials.
Posted: Mar 16, 2021 10:39 AM ET | Last Updated: March 16
Changing temperatures are creating shorter ice road seasons, which could impact the communities that depend on them.(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
People who work on the winter road network in northwestern Ontario say it s time to start looking at more permanent infrastructure, as warmer temperatures put the long-term viability of the winter road network at risk.
Twelve winter roads in northern Ontario faced closures last week, according to an update published Friday by the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, though at least one of those was due to pandemic-related restrictions, according to Lindsey Jupp, an environmental technologist with Matawa First Nations Management.
Cold snap contributes to winter road openings in northern Ontario
The recent blast of cold weather across northern Ontario has allowed several First Nations to open their winter roads.
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Posted: Feb 22, 2021 8:00 AM ET | Last Updated: February 22 There’s been a lot of issues at the crossings this year just trying to get them frozen and stable enough for heavy enough loads to pass, said Lindsey Jupp, an environmental technologist with Matawa First Nations Management.(John Woods/The Canadian Press)
The recent blast of cold weather across northern Ontario has allowed several First Nations to open their winter roads.