Cold Lake is a large lake in
Northern Alberta
Northern Alberta is a geographic region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.
An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the ce ...
and
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
, Canada. Most of the lake is within Alberta. It is one of the deepest lakes in Alberta with a maximum depth of . It has around 24 known species of fish and is a major ice fishing lake. Cold Lake is also major stop for many migrating birds, and is home to one of the largest
warbler
Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous.
Sylvioid warblers
T ...
populations in Alberta.
The city of
Cold Lake is the largest community on the lake.
Description
Cold Lake has a total surface area of , of which is in Alberta. Except for the western shore, the lake is surrounded by protected areas such as the
Cold Lake Provincial Park in Alberta and the
Meadow Lake Provincial Park in Saskatchewan.
The city of Cold Lake is located on the south-western shore while the
Cold Lake 149A and
B Indian reserve
In Canada, an Indian reserve () or First Nations reserve () is defined by the '' Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." ...
s of the
Cold Lake First Nations are on the western and southern shores respectively. Cold Lake House was a trading post built by the Montreal traders in 1781 near present-day
Beaver Crossing, Alberta, south of Cold Lake.
The
Martineau River flows from
Primrose Lake into Cold Lake, which in turn discharges through the
Cold River. The Cold River travels through a series of lakes in
Meadow Lake Provincial Park and ends as it empties into
Lac des Îles. The
Waterhen River, which is a major tributary of
Beaver River, is the primary outflow for Lac des Îles and it continues east where it meets
Beaver River, a major tributary of the
Churchill River.
The lake has a native legend of a large lake monster, the "kinosoo", with many residents claiming to have evidence or have seen it.
Fossil record
Cold Lake preserves an extensive
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
and subfossil record from the latest part of the
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...
, after the
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Ice sheets covered m ...
, to the
Late Holocene. By the
Middle Holocene, the mammalian fauna that lived in the region was in essence a modern one.
Fish species
Fish species include
walleye
The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...
,
sauger
The sauger (''Sander canadensis'') is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae that resembles its close relative, the walleye. The species is a member of the largest vertebrate order, the Perciformes.Jaeger, Matthew. 2004. Montana's ...
,
yellow perch
The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...
,
northern pike
The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...
,
lake trout
The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater Salvelinus, char living mainly in lakes in Northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, laker, and grey trout. In Lake Sup ...
,
lake whitefish
The lake whitefish (''Coregonus clupeaformis'') is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. The lake white ...
,
cisco
Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...
,
burbot
The burbot (''Lota lota''), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of ...
,
white sucker
The white sucker (''Catostomus commersonii'') is a species of freshwater cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but it is also found as far south as Georgia and as far west as New Mexico. The fish is common ...
, and
longnose sucker. Both Alberta and Saskatchewan angling licences are valid on the entire lake.
See also
*
Ethel Lake
*
List of lakes of Alberta
*
List of lakes of Saskatchewan
This is a list of lakes of Saskatchewan, a province of Canada. The largest and most notable lakes are listed at the start, followed by an alphabetical listing of other lakes of the province.
Larger lake statistics
"The total area of a lake ...
*
Tourism in Saskatchewan
References
External links
{{Authority control
Beaver River No. 622, Saskatchewan
Municipal District of Bonnyville No. 87
Lakes of Alberta
Lakes of Saskatchewan
Borders of Alberta
Borders of Saskatchewan
North West Company forts
Division No. 17, Saskatchewan