At Skins Lake the reservoir's spillway was built, allowing excess water to be released into the Cheslatta River.

Originally the Cheslatta River was small, with an average annual flow of about 5 cubic metres per second (180 cu ft/s).

[7] After the Nechako Reservoir was filled its level has been controlled by releasing water into the Cheslatta River via the Skins Lake Spillway.

Before the Nechako Reservoir was created, the river's course was a small, meandering stream through swamps and meadows north and east of Ootsa Lake.

A 10-mile (16 km) long tunnel was blasted through the Coast Mountains, connecting the Nechako Reservoir to a hydroelectric powerhouse at Kemano.

[10] Aside from losing their traditional village sites and trapping territory, three of the Cheslatta T'en's graveyards were washed away by outflow from the new reservoir.

[12] In 1992 the graveyard sites at Reserves 5 and 7 were reconsecrated, with new crosses and grave houses erected, as part of the Cheslatta redevelopment project.

However, within a month, another discharge of water flooded the graveyards, washing the new grave houses and crosses into Cheslatta Lake.

A spillway for the Nechako Reservoir was built at Skins Lake, 75 km (47 mi) west of Kenney Dam.

By 1957 the reservoir was full and Alcan began releasing large amounts of water into the Cheslatta River via the Skins Lake spillway.

[13] The greatly increased flow and erosion along the Cheslatta River has resulted in unusually well-exposed late Quaternary and Holocene stratigraphy, which has been helpful to geologists trying to understand the region's geological history.