Reid Lake, also known as Duncairn Reservoir, is a man-made reservoir in the

Canadian Province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British Nort ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

. Reid Lake was formed with the construction of the Duncairn Dam in a

glacial meltwater channel A meltwater channel (or sometimes a glacial meltwater channel) is a channel cut into ice, bedrock or unconsolidated deposits by the flow of water derived from the melting of a glacier or ice-sheet. The channel may form on the surface of, within, ...

along the course of

Swift Current Creek Swift Current Creek is a river in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. In the 1800s, Métis buffalo hunters called it ''Rivière au Courant'' (lit: "River of the Current"). This name was also adopted by the North-West Mounted Police on thei ...

in 1942. The reservoir was originally built to supply water for the city of

Swift Current Swift Current is the fifth largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is situated along the Trans Canada Highway west of Moose Jaw, and east of Medicine Hat, Alberta. Swift Current grew 6.8% between 2011 and 2016, ending up at ...

, for irrigation projects, and to regulate Swift Current Creek levels downstream. The entire lake is part of the Duncairn Reservoir Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Reid Lake is Y-shaped and Swift Current Creek flows into Ferguson Bay at the southern end of the "Y". It flows out at Duncairn Dam at the north-eastern "Y" corner. Ferguson Bay is named after Thomas L. Ferguson, a former district sheriff. From the dam, Swift Current Creek carries on northward past the city of

and into

Lake Diefenbaker Lake Diefenbaker is a reservoir and bifurcation lake in Southern Saskatchewan, Canada. It was formed by the construction of Gardiner Dam and the Qu'Appelle River Dam across the South Saskatchewan and Qu'Appelle Rivers respectively. Construc ...

of the

South Saskatchewan River The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ...

Duncairn Dam

Duncairn Dam () was constructed in 1942 by the

Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) was a branch under Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), a department of the Federal Government of Canada. The Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration was established by an Act of Parliam ...

(PFRA) to supply water for the Rush Lake, Waldeck, and Herbert irrigation projects. The dam and reservoir are now owned and managed by the

Saskatchewan Water Security Agency The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (before 2013, the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority) is an arm's length organization responsible for the management of water resources to ensure safe drinking water sources and reliable water supplies for eco ...

. Located at the north-eastern part of the lake in the RM of Swift Current No. 137, it is high and long. At full supply, the reservoir holds of water. The reservoir supplies water to 147 irrigators that irrigate about of land. The community of Duncairn is about east of the dam and access to the dam and the community is from a gravel road off Highway 630.

Spillway

The original

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure t ...

was a flip bucket shoot. By 1946, it had already shown signs of

spall Spall are fragments of a material that are broken off a larger solid body. It can be produced by a variety of mechanisms, including as a result of projectile impact, corrosion, weathering, cavitation, or excessive rolling pressure (as in a ball ...

ing. In 1952, severe flooding destroyed the spilling basin and chute. The spillway was redesigned and rebuilt "provide a mass concrete chute section and hydraulic jump stilling basin to contain the extreme runoff flows anticipated." The rebuild was completed in 1953. The spillway remained unchanged until repairs were made due to concrete deterioration of the breastwall. Between 2002 and 2006, upgrades were done to the spillway that included a stilling basin rehab, crest rehab, and the installation of radial gates and

stoplogs Stoplogs are hydraulic engineering control elements that are used in floodgates to adjust the water level or discharge in a river, canal, or reservoir. Stoplogs are sometimes confused with ''flashboards'', as both elements are used in bulkhea ...

Duncairn Reservoir (MBS)

The Duncairn Reservoir Migratory Bird Sanctuary (MBS) encompasses the entirety of Reid Lake and is in the

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

region known as

Palliser's Triangle Palliser's Triangle, or the Palliser Triangle, is a semi-arid steppe occupying a substantial portion of the Western Canadian Prairie Provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, within the Great Plains region. While initially determined to be un ...

. The area is susceptible to droughts and the stable lake levels provide reliable habitat for migrating birds. Duncairn MBS was one of five migratory bird sanctuaries created in 1948 in Saskatchewan. Reid Lake lacks islands, which restricts the number of colonial-nesting

water bird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from sea ...

s, and its steep sides limit the amount of

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

habitat. Due to these constraints, birds use it only as a stop-over on their migration.

Tundra swans The tundra swan (''Cygnus columbianus'') is a small swan of the Holarctic. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan (''Cygnus bewickii'') of the Palaearctic and the w ...

, ducks, and geese are birds that commonly use the reservoir on their migration. Other species found at the lake include the

barn swallow The barn swallow (''Hirundo rustica'') is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. In fact, it appears to have the largest natural distribution of any of the world's passerines, ranging over 251 million square kilometres globally. ...

common nighthawk The common nighthawk (''Chordeiles minor'') is a medium-sized crepuscular or nocturnal bird of the Americas within the nightjar family, whose presence and identity are best revealed by its vocalization. Typically dark (gray, black and brown), d ...

western grebe The western grebe (''Aechmophorus occidentalis'') is a species in the grebe family of water birds. Folk names include "dabchick", "swan grebe" and "swan-necked grebe". Western grebe fossils from the Late Pleistocene of southwest North America we ...

, and

northern leopard frog ''Lithobates pipiens''Integrated Taxonomic Information System nternet2012''Lithobates pipiens'' pdated 2012 Sept; cited 2012 Dec 26Available from: www.itis.gov/ or ''Rana pipiens'', commonly known as the northern leopard frog, is a species of l ...

Communities

There are three communities along the lake's shore. At the southern end of the lake on Ferguson Bay is

Ferguson Bay Ferguson Bay is a small inlet on the eastern south coast of Southern Thule isle of Morrell. It is in effect the only safe anchorage on Southern Thule. It was here that the Argentine Air Force set up the '' Corbeta Uruguay'' base, starting an occ ...

Resort. About north of that on the eastern shore of Ferguson Bay is Sunridge Resort. Rock Ridge Resort is located on the northern shore of the western arm. Access to the communities is from Highways 631 and

343 __NOTOC__ Year 343 (Roman numerals, CCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Memmius and Romulus (or, less frequent ...

Fish species

Fish species commonly found in Reid Lake include

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by S ...

, and

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are kno ...

. There are four boat launches located around the lake for access.

References