Chinchaga is a river in north-western

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. It is a tributary of the Hay River. Through the Hay River, its waters are carried to the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

via

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...

and Mackenzie River. The name Chinchaga is

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

, and means "Big Wood River". Much of the Chinchaga watershed burned in 1950 during the Chinchaga fire.

Course

Chinchaga River originates in the Chinchaga Lakes, a series of small lakes in the

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...

of north-eastern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, at an elevation of 795 m. It flows east into

, then continues north-east until west of Keg River, where it turns north. It merges into the Hay River between

Zama Lake Zama Lake is a large lake in Mackenzie County, in north-western Alberta, Canada. Major Ernest Wilson Hubbell, Chief Inspector of the Dominion Land Survey, recorded the name "Zammah River" in his field notes as the transliteration of the name of ...

and

High Level High Level is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located at the intersection of the Mackenzie Highway (Highway 35) and Highway 58, approximately north of Edmonton and south of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. High Level is located w ...

, at an altitude of 325 m. A series of

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

s are formed on the lower course. The approximate length of the river is 500 km, and the average discharge at its confluence with Hay River is 30 m³/s.

Tributaries

* Lennard Creek * Tanghe Creek * Werniuck Creek * Sloat Creek * Vader Creek * Thordarson Creek * Waniandy Creek * Haro River * Haig River

Conservation and development

Chinchaga Wildland Park Chinchaga Wildland Provincial Park is a wildland provincial park in northwestern Alberta, Canada. The park is a environmentally protected tract of land within the of the greater Chinchaga wilderness area. It is a disjunct outlier of the Foothi ...

is a large tract of land set aside by the

Alberta Government The Executive Council of Alberta (the Cabinet) is a body of ministers of the Crown in right of Alberta, who along with the lieutenant governor, exercises the powers of the Government of Alberta. Ministers are selected by the premier and typicall ...

for protection of the habitat of

grizzly bear The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America. In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...

s and woodland

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

, as well as nesting sites of trumpeter

swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...

. However, the rest of the Chinchaga area is a well known

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

ground.Chinchaga River hunting
Significant

oil and gas A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas. Fossil fuels ...

fields (such as

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

) and

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

are developed in the area.

References

Rivers of Alberta {{Alberta-river-stub

Course

Tributaries

Conservation and development

See also

References