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- For more information on the Pasquia project:
Manitoba: e-mail Chris Smith. - View interactive maps of Pasquia. (Opens new window.)
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Pasquia 
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Straddling the Manitoba Saskatchewan border, the Pasquia Project contains an incredibly diverse boreal landscape including three escarpments (Duck Mountains, Porcupine and Pasquia Hills), extensive lowlands, beaver ponds, freshwater coastal marshes and the Saskatchewan River Delta considered one of the largest freshwater inland deltas in North America.
Waterbird use is extensive and during the spring and fall migration hundreds of thousands of migratory waterfowl pass through the extensive Saskatchewan River Delta where incredible numbers of tundra swan and other waterfowl stage. Waterfowl production is impressive, particularly in the small pothole lakes in Duck Mountains and Porcupine Hills. Mallard, blue-winged teal and bufflehead are most common as well as significant densities of breeding common loon and red-necked grebes. Colonial waterbirds such as herring gulls, double-crested cormorant, American white pelican, common term and an abundance of shorebirds utilize the small rocky islands and extensive mudflats of Lake Winnipegosis where extensive coastal wetlands can be found. The shallow Red deer and Swan Lakes attract huge numbers of western grebes and are considered regionally significant to this species. These lakes and Pelican Lake attract thousands of staging canvasback, redhead and other diving ducks in the fall.
Land-use activities include forestry, agriculture, hydroelectric power generation, mineral exploration, hunting, trapping, tourism and traditional aboriginal activities. Through careful land use planning and the development of best management practices, all activities can co-exist and ensure continued healthy and productive wetlands and wetland dependent wildlife populations. Information collected through this project will assist in developing such management practices and conservation programs.
Status
2001
The Pasquia Project was initiated and includes satellite based habitat mapping, an inventory of waterbird use, water quality surveys and traditional ecological knowledge. Extensive information on the vegetation was collected and used to develop a highly accurate satellite habitat map of the region. This satellite-based mapping is now complete and 35 vegetation types are mapped allowing for an accurate assessment of key important wetlands in the region.
2003
A three-year comprehensive waterbird inventory will be completed in October 2003 and has already provided an extensive amount of information on waterbird use within the project area. Water quality was undertaken in July 2003 when over 200 wetlands were sampled. Analysis of these water samples is currently ongoing by the University of Alberta. A pilot project to document traditional ecological knowledge of wetlands and wetland dependent wildlife by aboriginal and non-aborigina people is currently being developedddd.
This information collected will be combined to help identify key wetland systems in the project area and to deliver effective wetland conservation programs. This combination of key multiple natural characteristics will assist in developing a model to identify wetland characteristics that are critical to healthy and productive waterbird and wetland-based wildlife populations. All information will be shared with project partners to assist in ensuring compatible land use activities.
2005
In Pasquia, the field work has been completed, analyses are underway, and new opportunities are arising. With the bulk of the project components complete, a summation will be written and delivered to partners as a 3-year final report. With the project components coming to completion, opportunities for further complementary study have now become more apparent. Trumpeter swan sightings were recorded during the life of the waterbird surveys and interest in this information has continued to grow. While some of this basic information has been disseminated to those studying swans, a more comprehensive article will be written and published. Other data which has brought interest has been the shorebird information collected. Collection of related data has been ongoing by other agencies in the area and Ducks Unlimited has assisted these efforts. With such a wealth of information having been collected over three years, Ducks Unlimited and a forest management company in the Pasquia area have begun to formulate a working agreement wherein this data can be fit into the company’s management plan and help guide future planning. Beyond the aforementioned work it remains important for Ducks Unlimited to remain committed to the Pasquia area and continue to work where opportunities arise.
