MapleCross Beach Ridge at Breda Bay Coastal Wetlands / MapleCross Siglavik Coastal Wetlands

Property Description

Known for its beautiful beaches, shallow, warm waters and shoreline forests, Lake Winnipeg is one of Manitoba’s greatest natural resources. It is the 11th largest freshwater lake in the world, and the largest lake contained within a single province. For generations, Manitobans have sought respite and quiet in the natural areas that line the southwestern shore of Lake Winnipeg. Those same ecosystems have cleaned the water and offered cottagers and residents, provided habitat for pollinators (ie. Monarch), birds and a place for young fish to grow up.

But the love of the lake is also one of its biggest challenges, with increasingly fragmented habitats and water quality issues that impact both species and people.

With few large and intact natural areas remaining in the region, conservation is key to securing this legacy, and with the support of MapleCross, the Nature Conservancy of Canada was able to expand the number of conservation areas from two to four with the conservation of the Breda Bay Coastal Wetlands (4 hectares) and the MapleCross Siglavik Coastal Wetlands (41 hectares) properties.

Both properties contain coastal wetlands that provide significant breeding and migratory habitat for waterfowl and other waterbirds. Coastal wetlands are also crucial in the containment and filtration of important nutrients that would otherwise contribute to the degradation of the lake’s water quality. Recent bird surveys documented 39 bird species, such as American White Pelican, Barn Swallow, Baltimore Oriole, and Bobolink.

In a time when habitat loss, climate change and species extinction threaten our landscapes, the support of MapleCross allowed NCC to protect ever increasing rare ecosystems and the benefits that they provide to people.

Content and property pictures courtesy of Nature Conservancy of Canada.