Levelling the Lake explores a century and a half of social, economic, and legal arrangements through which the resources and environment of the Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake watershed have been harnessed and harmed. Jamie Benidickson traces the environmental consequences of mining, forest industries, commercial fishing, hydro-electricity production, and recreation, as well as their often unanticipated impacts on the local residents, including Indigenous communities, which encouraged new legal and institutional responses. Assessing the transition from primary resource extraction toward sustainable development at a watershed level, Levelling the Lake also shows how interjurisdictional and transboundary issues - many involving the Canada-US International Joint Commission - continue to play a significant role throughout the region.

Jamie Benidickson teaches environmental law at the University of Ottawa where he is a member of the Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability.

UBC Press

Paperback, 366 pages.