Jam-packed
with life
Take 36 square kilometres of marshland,
aspen-oak bluffs and one of the few remaining tall grass prairies
and you get one of North America's birding hotspots. Oak Hammock
Marsh is located just north of Winnipeg roughly half way between
the city and Lake Winnipeg.
The marsh is the home of a couple
dozen mammals, almost 300 species of birds and numerous species
of reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates. During migration
up to 400,000 birds may be at the marsh at any one time. That
is one reason why the site was picked as the location for
an award-winning interpretive centre.
It is a great place to learn about
the importance of water to our ecosystems and mankind. Oak
Hammock Marsh is jointly managed by Ducks Unlimited and the
Province of Manitoba.
Unaltered by development
Unaltered by development, the Hayes
River has been nominated as a Heritage River. The Hayes River
has played a profound role in Canada's history. Ancient campsites
and pictographs testify to its importance as a route for Manitoba's
First Nations long before Europeans arrived. The Hayes River
was the main route from York Factory on Hudson Bay to the
interior of western Canada for fur traders, settlers, and
explorers from 1670 until 1870, and played a key role in the
integration of the Aboriginal way of life with the fur trade.
The Hayes remains much as it was when the fur traders traveled
on its waters, unaltered by dams and development.
Preserving habitat is
fundamental
Dealing with Fisheries and Oceans
(DFO) staff is something new for most prairie folk. DFO's
programs provide for sustaining Canada's fish resources and
fish habitat amongst other things. This includes the smaller
lakes and streams on the prairies as well as the big ones.
One of DFO's main jobs on the prairies is to manage fish habitat
for the purpose of conserving, restoring, and generally enhancing
its productive capacity. So the next time you are planning
to work in or near water, consider environmentally friendly
practices and designs (for example a floating instead of a
sheet piled dock) to ensure that you will be able to continue
fishing your favorite streams and lakes.
Manitoba’s river
heritage
The Canadian Heritage Rivers System
(CHRS) was established in 1984 by the federal, provincial
and territorial governments to conserve and protect the best
examples of Canada's river heritage, to give them national
recognition, and to encourage the public to enjoy and appreciate
them. There are two designated Heritage Rivers in Manitoba:
the Bloodvein and the Seal. |
