Lake Winnipeg Regulation: A Closer Look (Part 2 of 4)
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Isolated, uninhabited islands provide nesting sites for colonial nesting birds including pelicans, gulls and terns. Large marshes, shores and shallows allow these birds to successfully feed themselves and their young.
Pipestone Rocks are considered a globally significant site for American white pelicans. In 1998, an estimated 3.7% of the world’s population of this bird at the time were counted nesting on the rocky outcrops.
The same site is significant within North America for the numbers of colonial waterbirds using the area, especially Common terns. Other globally significant nesting areas are found at Gull Island and Sandhill Island, Little George Island[18] and Louis Island. Birds nesting at these sites include Common and Caspian terns, Herring gull, Ring-billed gull, Double-crested cormorant and Greater scaup.
Lake Winnipeg has two sites considered globally important in the fall migration. Large populations of waterfowl and shorebirds use the sand bars east of Riverton as a staging area for fall migration. The Netley-Libau Marsh, where the Red River enters Lake Winnipeg, is used by geese, ducks and swallows to gather for the southward migration.
Piping Plovers, an endangered species of shorebird, are found in several locations around the lake. The Gull Bay Spits, south of the town of Grand Rapids are considered nationally significant nesting sites for this species.
Protected areas
Beaver Creek Provincial Park
Camp Morton Provincial Park
Elk Island Provincial Park
Fisher Bay Provincial Park
Grand Beach Provincial Park
Hecla-Grindstone Provincial Park
Hnausa Beach Provincial Park
Kinwow Provincial Park
Patricia Beach Provincial Park
Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park
Winnipeg Beach Provincial Park
Lake Winnipeg is suffering from many environmental issues such as an explosion in the population of algae, caused by excessive amounts of phosphorus seeping into the lake, therefore not absorbing enough nitrogen. The phosphorus levels are approaching a point that could be dangerous for human health.
The Global Nature Fund declared Lake Winnipeg as the “threatened lake of the year” in 2013.
In 2015, there was a major uptick of zebra mussels in Lake Winnipeg, the reduction of which is next to impossible because of a lack of natural predators in the lake. The mussels are devastating to the ecological opportunities of the lake.
It is believed Henry Kelsey was the first European to see the lake, in 1690. He adopted the Cree language name for the lake: wīnipēk (ᐐᓂᐯᐠ), meaning “muddy waters”. La Vérendrye referred to the lake as Ouinipigon when he built the first forts in the area in the 1730s. Later, the Red River Colony to its south took the lake’s name for Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba.
Lake Winnipeg lies along one of the oldest trading routes in North America to have flown the British flag. For several centuries, furs were traded along this route between York Factory on Hudson Bay (which was the longtime headquarters for the Hudson’s Bay Company) over Lake Winnipeg and the Red River Trails to the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers at Saint Paul, Minnesota.
This was a strategic trading route for the First British Empire. With the establishment of the Second British Empire after Britain’s loss of the Thirteen Colonies, a significant increase in trade occurred over Lake Winnipeg between Rupert’s Land and the United States.
Transportation
Because of its length, the Lake Winnipeg water system and the lake was an important transportation route in the province before the railways reached Manitoba.
It continued to be a major transportation route even after the railways reached the province. In addition to aboriginal canoes and York boats, several steamboats plied the lake, including Anson Northup, City of Selkirk, Colvile, Keenora, Premier, Princess, Winnitoba, Wolverine and most recently the diesel-powered MS Lord Selkirk II passenger cruise ship.
Communities
Communities on the lake include Grand Marais, Lester Beach, Riverton, Gimli, Winnipeg Beach, Victoria Beach, Hillside beach, Pine Falls, Manigotagan, Berens River, Bloodvein, Sandy Hook, Albert Beach, Hecla Village and Grand Rapids. A number of pleasure beaches are found on the southern end of the lake, which are popular in the summer, attracting many visitors from Winnipeg, about 80 km south.
Commercial fisheries
Lake Winnipeg has important commercial fisheries. Its catch makes up a major part of Manitoba’s $30 million per year fishing industry. The lake was once the main source of goldeye in Canada, which is why the fish is sometimes called Winnipeg goldeye. Walleye and whitefish together account for over 90 percent of its commercial fishing. (Read more on Wikipedia)
