Cluculz Lake is a

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

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, ...

, located 40 km west of Prince George alongside the

Yellowhead Highway The Yellowhead Highway (french: Route Yellowhead) is a major interprovincial highway in Western Canada that runs from Winnipeg to Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia via Saskatoon and Edmonton. It stretches across the four western ...

. The word "Cluculz" is translated Big Whitefish and is based on a story told by local Carrier people of a group who paddled across the lake in their canoe and were tipped over by a giant Whitefish. Cluculz Lake is part of Electoral Area F (Vanderhoof Rural). According to the 2011 census, Electoral Area F had a total population of 3,702 people. In 2013 a controversy arose between a group of residents and land owners at Cluculz Lake and the

Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako The Regional District of Bulkley–Nechako (RDBN) is a regional district in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2016 census, the population was 37,896. The area is 73,419.01 square kilometres. The regional district offi ...

over the outcome of a referendum which would see them pay for a planned pool in the community of

Vanderhoof, British Columbia Vanderhoof is a district municipality near the geographical centre of British Columbia, Canada. Covering 2.92 square kilometers., it has a population of about 4,500 within town limits, and offers services to nearly 10,000 people in nearby rural c ...

- which many claimed they would not use. A lawsuit was filed, but later dropped.

Geography

The surface area of the lake is 6223 acres, with a volume of 578,739

acre-feet The acre-foot is a non- SI unit of volume equal to about commonly used in the United States in reference to large-scale water resources, such as reservoirs, aqueducts, canals, sewer flow capacity, irrigation water, and river flows. An acre-f ...

. Its mean depth is 97 ft, with a maximum depth of 200 ft. It sits at an elevation of 2,500 ft. The surrounding terrain is dominated by gently rolling hills, pine and spruce forests and fertile agricultural lands. Although mostly flat, the area also has some interesting topography including steep rocky bluffs, waterfalls, and mountains.

Ecology

The lake is home to a variety of fish species, including

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 ...

Sockeye Salmon The sockeye salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also called red salmon, kokanee salmon, blueback salmon, or simply sockeye, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it. This species is a P ...

(Kokanee),

Lake Trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

(Char),

Ptychocheilus Pikeminnows, formerly squawfish, are cyprinid fish of the genus ''Ptychocheilus'' consisting of four species native to western North America. Voracious predators, they are considered an "undesirable" species in many waters, largely due to the spe ...

(Pikeminnows),

Freshwater Whitefish The freshwater whitefish are fishes of the subfamily Coregoninae, which contains whitefishes (both freshwater and anadromous) and ciscoes, and is one of three subfamilies in the salmon family Salmonidae. Apart from the subfamily Coregoninae, the ...

(Whitefish), and

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 ...

History and archaeology

In 1975 Michael William Cranny published a thesis titled "Carrier Settlement and Subsistence in The Chinlac/Cluculz Lake area of Central British Columbia. In it he chronicles some history of the area and findings of archeological surveys he conducted and those done earlier by Charles Borden in 1950 and 1952.
"Carrier settlement and subsistence in the Chinlac/Cluculz Lake area of Central British Columbia"

References

Settlements in British Columbia {{BritishColumbia-geo-stub