Bronson Forest Recreation Site is a provincial recreation area in the west-central region of 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 North ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, 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 t ...

. The park covers of the Bronson Forest in the

Rural Municipality of Loon Lake No. 561 The Rural Municipality of Loon Lake No. 561 (Canada 2016 Census, 2016 population: ) is a List of rural municipalities in Saskatchewan, rural municipality (RM) in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan within ...

. It encompasses the headwaters of the Monnery River and straddles the divide between the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...

and Beaver River. There are campgrounds, hiking trails, and multiple lakes accessible for recreation and fishing. Access to the park and its amenities is from Highway 21. The Bronson Forest is in the

boreal forest Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, ...

transition zone and is made up of trembling aspen, willow, balsam poplar, white spruce, jack pine, paper birch, and black spruce trees. The landscape consists of rolling hills, lakes, muskeg, and meadows. The forest is known for its wild ponies. Other animals found there include

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

Canada lynx The Canada lynx (''Lynx canadensis''), or Canadian lynx, is a medium-sized North American lynx that ranges across Alaska, Canada, and northern areas of the contiguous United States. It is characterized by its long, dense fur, triangular ears ...

, black bears,

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

, river otters,

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

snowshoe hare The snowshoe hare (''Lepus americanus''), also called the varying hare or snowshoe rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet. The animal's feet prevent it from sink ...

s, and

cottontail rabbit Cottontail rabbits are the leporid species in the genus ''Sylvilagus'', found in the Americas. Most ''Sylvilagus'' species have stub tails with white undersides that show when they retreat, giving them their characteristic name. However, this ...

Recreation and amenities

The main facilities and amenities are located at

Peck Lake Peck Lake is man-made lake in the Town of Bleecker, New York in Fulton County Fulton County is the name of eight counties in the United States of America. Most are named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the first practical steamboat: *Fulton County ...

and

Little Fishing Lake Little Fishing Lake is a lake in the east-central region of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is a recreational lake located within the Bronson Forest Provincial Recreation Site. The lake is in the Monnery River drainage basin, which ...

. Little Fishing Lake has a campground, sandy beach, fishing, and boating. The community of

is beside the campground on the western shore. Peck Lake has a campground, sandy beach, cabins and cottages, and lake access for boating and fishing. There are several other accessible lakes in the park. Most of the lakes, including the aforementioned Peck and Little Fishing, are well stocked. Some of these other lakes include Round, Worthington, Ministikwan, Galletly, Moonshine, Halfmoon (Spirit), Monnery, Bronson, Cache, Bear, and Spitser. Fish found in the lakes include

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

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 Samu ...

lake whitefish The lake whitefish (''Coregonus clupeaformis'') is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. The lake white ...

white sucker The white sucker (''Catostomus commersonii)'' is a species of freshwater cypriniform fish inhabiting the upper Midwest and Northeast in North America, but it is also found as far south as Georgia and as far west as New Mexico. The fish is commonl ...

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments di ...

splake The splake or slake (''Salvelinus namaycush x Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a hybrid of two fish species resulting from the crossing of a male brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') and a female lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush''). The name its ...

, and

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

. Worthington Lake is a

bifurcation lake A bifurcation lake is a lake that has outflows into two different drainage basins and thus the drainage divide cannot be defined exactly because it is situated in the middle of the lake. Examples Vesijako (the name ''Vesijako'' actually means "dr ...

with its northern outflow going into Ministikwan Lake and the Beaver River drainage basin via Ministikwan Creek and Makwa River and its southern outflow going into the North Saskatchewan River basin via Galletly and Peck Lakes and Monnery River. The northern end of the park runs along the southern and eastern shores of Ministikwan Lake. Johnson's Outfitters and Ministikwan Lodge are located along Ministikwan's eastern shore.

Wild Ponies of the Bronson Forest

The wild ponies are

feral horse A feral horse is a free-roaming horse of domesticated stock. As such, a feral horse is not a wild animal in the sense of an animal without domesticated ancestors. However, some populations of feral horses are managed as wildlife, and these ...

s that live in the Bronson Forest in the meadows near Bronson Lake, which is west of the recreation site. In the 1990s, there were over 125 horses and by the early 2010s, that number had fallen to 35. Predation from wolves, poaching, and harsh winters have strained the population. Colts have a survival rate of only about 24%. Battles for leadership of the herd have caused smaller groups to split off from what used to be an inseparable herd; further increasing the risk of population decline from predation. It is the only known herd of feral horses in Saskatchewan and, in 2009, the Saskatchewan government passed legislation to protect the horses. At about 12 to 14

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...

and lightly built, they are smaller than typical local domestic horses.

References

External links

The Wild Horses of Saskatchewan Bronson Forest
{{Authority control Forests of Saskatchewan Loon Lake No. 561, Saskatchewan

Recreation and amenities

Wild Ponies of the Bronson Forest

See also

References

External links