Lenore Lake is a partly saline lake in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

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 ...

. It is part of the Lenore Lake basin, which includes several saline lakes ( Basin, Middle, Frog, Ranch, Murphy, Flat, Mantrap, Houghton, Deadmoose, and Waldsea) as well as the

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

St. Brieux and Burton Lakes. The basin is part of the Carrot River watershed but has no natural outlet. The lake is within the

aspen parkland Aspen parkland refers to a very large area of ecotone, transitional biome between prairie and boreal forest in two sections, namely the Peace River Country of northwestern Alberta crossing the border into British Columbia, and a much larger area ...

ecozone An ecozone may refer to: * Biogeographic realm, the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface (referred to as ''ecozone'' by BBC) * Biome, a large collection of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat * Bioregion, an ecologically ...

of Saskatchewan. Lenore Lake was designated a migratory bird sanctuary in 1925. Raven Island (), located at the southern end of Lenore Lake, is a

National Wildlife Area A National Wildlife Area is a conservation designation for a geographical region in Canada that restricts most human activities on that region. However, land use permits may be issued "for activities that are compatible with conservation". Su ...

of Canada. Lenore Lake is relatively shallow and is prone to severe water level fluctuations as it is dependant upon seasonal rains and spring runoff. As water levels recede during the summer, extensive

mudflat 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 ...

s develop along the shore. These mudflats provide habitat for birds and the lake itself is an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) of Canada part of Lenore Lake Migratory Bird Sanctuary (MBS). Directly to the north-west is another MBS at Basin and Middle Lakes. At the north-east corner of Lenore Lake is Lenore Lake Wildlife Refuge ().

Lake Lenore IBA

Lake Lenore (SK 074) is an Important Bird Area (IBA) of Canada that covers an area of and includes all of Lenore Lake and its shoreline. The lake is an important staging area for about 80,000 ducks and 40,000 geese during the fall migration. During the summer, about 4,000 ducks use the lake as a moulting area. This habitat is also important to other birds such as the

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, Passerellidae, sparrow-sized wader, shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band acro ...

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan wader, wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was form ...

double-crested cormorant The double-crested cormorant (''Nannopterum auritum'') is a member of the cormorant family of water birds. It is found near rivers and lakes and in coastal areas and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska ...

, and the

American white pelican The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Costa Rica, in winter. Taxonomy The Americ ...

Environmental concerns

In recent years, water levels in the basin have risen to historic levels. Nearby Houghton Lake, a highly saline body of water, has drained water into Lenore Lake. To prevent the highly saline water from damaging the fish habitat in Lenore Lake, Environment Canada ordered the permanent closure of a culvert between the two lakes on May 10, 2010. In 2009, Saskatchewan's Ministry of the Environment issued fish consumption guidelines for walleye and northern pike taken from Lenore Lake, due to the level of mercury detected in the fish.

Fish species

Fish commonly found in the lake 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 ...

, whitefish, perch, and

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 ...

References

{{Authority control Lakes of Saskatchewan Endorheic lakes of Canada Important Bird Areas of Saskatchewan Saline lakes of Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuaries of Canada Three Lakes No. 400, Saskatchewan Lake Lenore No. 399, Saskatchewan Division No. 15, Saskatchewan

Lake Lenore IBA

Environmental concerns

Fish species

See also

References