Burnaby Lake is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

located in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

and is the focal geographic feature and namesake of Burnaby Lake Regional Park. The lake occupies of land, and is home to a large variety of wildlife. At least 70 species of birds make the lake and surrounding areas their home, and about 214 species of birds visit the lake throughout the year.Burnaby Lake Nature House
The park has been managed by the

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

Parks Department since 1977.

History

Burnaby Lake is a glacial lake that formed about 12,000 years ago,Burnaby Lake Regional Park
City of Burnaby at the end of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. The lake was named by Colonel

Richard Moody Richard Clement Moody Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Military Merit of France (13 February 1813 – 31 March 1887) was a British governor, engineer, architect and soldier. He is best known for being the founder and the first Lieutenant ...

after his private secretary,

Robert Burnaby Robert Burnaby (November 30, 1828 – January 10, 1878) was an English merchant, politician and civil servant in British Columbia, where he served as private secretary to Richard Clement Moody, the founder and first Lieutenant-Governor of Briti ...

. According to a map and materials by Heritage Advisory Committee and Environment and Waste Management Committee of the City of Burnaby (1993), in March 1859 Colonel Moody began to survey the site of

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

as the capital city for the new Colony of British Columbia. He was particularly intrigued with the possibility that a fresh water lake existed north of the town. In a letter to Governor James Douglas Moody wrote: "I now learn from the Indians that a lake does exist... Burnaby and Blake immediately volunteered their services to explore and also to trace the mouth to Burrard's Inlet and to report generally on the countryside north of the town. After a considerable reluctance on account of the weather I have let them go with four days' provisions in light marching order, not even tents, two Indians, a Canadian Voyageur attached to Parson's survey party and my own trusty Corporal Brown R.E. They have been away now three days in the most deplorable weather. The rain was in torrents all last night and it is streaming down still in tropical torrents - nothing would gladden my eyes more than to see them back." Robert Burnaby and the rest of the party did return safely and the official hydrographic chart produced in 1860 featured two discoveries: Burnaby Lake and the Brunette River. A number of

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s were situated here in the late 19th century.

Geography

The lake is situated to the east of Burnaby City Hall, and is bordered by Highway 1 to the south, and the CN New Westminster Sub to the north (Formerly BN track). The Burnaby Lake Line of the British Columbia Electric Railway's

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

service from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

ran along the south side of the lake. Still Creek, Eagle Creek, and Deer Lake flow into Burnaby Lake, while the lake empties from the east to the Fraser River through the Brunette River.

Ecology

Burnaby Lake hosts over 400 varieties of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

, mammal, reptile and amphibian species.Burnaby Lake Rejuvenation Project Newsletter
City of Burnaby, November 2005 An exceptionally wide variety of birds frequent the area, including great blue herons, bald eagles,

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

, and the green heron. Black bears once were common in the area. Vegetation such as

bladderwort ''Utricularia'', commonly and collectively called the bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of approximately 233 species (precise counts differ based on classification opinions; a 2001 publication lists 215 species).Salmon, Br ...

cattail ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...

bulrush Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland grass-like plants *Sedge family (Cyperaceae): **''Cyperus'' **'' Scirpus'' **''Blysmus'' **''Bolboschoenus'' **'' Scirpoides'' **'' Isolepis'' **'' Schoenoplectus'' **'' Trichophorum'' * T ...

es, and

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus '' Carex'' ...

s are common around the area, with

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

trees around the edge of the

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found a ...

es. Conifers occupy the areas furthest from the lake. The lake is said to act as a settling pond for incoming pollutants from Still Creek, thereby protecting the outflowing Brunette River. Large amounts of sediment,

peat moss ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

, decomposing plants, and water lilies make the lake unsuitable for swimming. Because many storm sewers drain to the lake and the Brunette River, the Cariboo Dam at Brunette River controls the rate of water outflow to prevent flooding downstream during times of heavy rain.Brunette Creek Neighbourhood Planning Study - Environmental Review
City of New Westminster, October 2001

Activities

Birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

and

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

are common, with 19 km of walking and hiking trails circling the entire lake. The Burnaby

Equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

Centre is located here, with 6 km of horseback riding trails along the southern and eastern sides of the lake. Canoeing,

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

, and kayaking is also popular, with the Burnaby Canoe and Kayak Club and the Burnaby Lake Rowing Club in the Burnaby Lake Pavilion at the west end of the lake.

Other attractions

*Burnaby Lake Nature House *Butterfly garden *Piper Spit pier *Burnaby Sports Complex *Wildlife Rescue Association The park is open from 8am to 9pm between the start of

Daylight Saving Time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time or simply daylight time (United States, Canada, and Australia), and summer time (United Kingdom, European Union, and others), is the practice of advancing clocks (typicall ...

(second Sunday of March) to Labour Day, and 8am to dusk for the rest of the year.

Dredging

Over the past decades, sediment has been filling up the lake, reducing the average lake depth. The lake is no longer suitable for competitive paddling sports, normal ecological balance has been disrupted, and parts of it are in danger of being reduced to

mudflats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

and wetlands. The city removed 360,000 cubic metres of sediment, as part of the "Burnaby Lake Rejuvenation Project", in August 2006.

References

External links

Aerial view of Burnaby Lake, looking W from above Cariboo/Stormont interchange
fro
Randall & Kat's Flying PhotosBurnaby Canoe and Kayak ClubBurnaby Lake Rowing ClubMap of Burnaby Lake
{{British Columbia parks Lakes and waterways of Burnaby Parks in Burnaby