Reconnecting Nina Lake

Along the shores of Lake Manitoba near the Narrows lies Nina Lake, a sweeping lakeshore marsh that has quietly played an important role in the ecological and agricultural fabric of the Interlake region for more than half a century. Today, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC), together with local partners, landowners and funders, has renewed that legacy through the Nina Lake Wetland – Fish Egress Project, an initiative that reflects how conservation evolves to meet the needs of both people and nature. 

Who is Ducks Unlimited Canada?

Ducks Unlimited Canada is the country’s largest land conservancy and a leader in wetland conservation. A registered charity, DUC uses sound science and works alongside landowners, Indigenous communities, governments and other conservation partners to help ensure healthy wetlands and associated habitats that support waterfowl, wildlife, clean water and more resilient rural landscapes. 

In Manitoba, where DUC was founded in 1938, we have a long history of wetland stewardship, particularly around Lake Manitoba, one of the province’s most important regions for ducks, fish, wildlife and people alike.

A project born from wind and water

Nina Lake is a shallow bay of Lake Manitoba’s north basin, essentially functioning as a large lakeshore wetland. In 1970, DUC constructed an earth fill dam across the connecting channel between Nina Lake and Lake Manitoba, installing three 36-inch culverts equipped with screw gates. At the time, the project had a clear and practical purpose. 

The dam was designed to reduce the effects of short-term wind–driven water level fluctuations (often called wind tides) coming off Lake Manitoba. These sudden surges could flood waterfowl nests, inundate hay lands and destabilize vegetation in Nina Lake. By buffering Nina Lake from these rapid changes, the project provided benefits to nearby landowners while creating more stable nesting habitat for waterfowl.

For Ken Sigurdson, 72, a cattle farmer who has lived beside Nina Lake his entire life, the difference before and after the dam is stark. He and his family’s home and farm at Oakview (where his late father also lived) sits roughly a quarter mile from the lake, closer than any other farm in the area, with wild hay along the shore forming an important part of their cow–calf operation (which includes 120 animals).  

Before the dam was built in 1970, wind-driven water off Lake Manitoba regularly pushed up into the Sigurdson’s fields.

“We’d kind of watch the water. It would come fairly close to the house…it would run back once the wind let down, but it would flood all our land. It was not good and not good for the ducks and the geese. It would flood their nests,” Sigurdson recalls. 

Concerned about the repeated flooding of their hay lands and wildlife habitat, local farmers, including Sigurdson’s father, approached DUC about the possibility of a dam.  

The project helped keep damaging wind tides at bay, stabilizing water levels enough to protect hay fields and help wildlife flourish. In the 1970s, goose boxes were installed around the area, with Sigurdson later adding his own. 

“There’s a lot of geese that come around this area. They come right to our yard,” says Sigurdson, who notes that the family doesn’t hunt on their land and values the presence of waterfowl and other species as part of what makes the place so special.

“It’s nice to have wildlife here and the hay for us,” he says. 

The project has also helped secure the future of his family’s farm, which Sigurdson’s sons are preparing to take over one day. 

While he and his family aren’t the only ones who benefit from the project, Sigurdson says he feels its effects more directly than most.