Craven Dam is at the confluence of the Qu'Appelle River and Last Mountain Creek and immediately east of the village of Craven on the Qu'Appelle River at SW 24-20-21 W2. It is in the Canadian province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in 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 the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

in the RM of Longlaketon No. 219. The dam does not create a reservoir as its purpose is to regulate water flow along the Qu'Appelle River. The dam is operated by the

Saskatchewan Water Security Agency The Saskatchewan Water Security Agency (before 2013, the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority) is an arm's length organization responsible for the management of water resources to ensure safe drinking water sources and reliable water supplies for eco ...

and can be accessed on the north side by Highway 99. Craven Dam is the dividing point between the upper and lower watersheds of the Qu'Appelle River. The total

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of the Qu'Appelle River upstream from the dam is and it is divided into five sub-basins, which include Lanigan-Manitou,

Wascana Creek Wascana Creek is a river in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is a tributary of the Qu'Appelle River. Originating in the fields east of Regina near Vibank, Wascana Creek travels south-east for approximately before turning back west ...

Last Mountain Lake Last Mountain Lake, also known as Long Lake, is a prairie lake formed from glaciation 11,000 years ago. It is located in south central Saskatchewan, Canada, about north-west of the city of Regina. It flows into the Qu'Appelle River via Last ...

, Upper Qu'Appelle, and Moose Jaw River. The original Craven Dam was built in 1943 and did not include a

fishway A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as move ...

. Starting in August of 2002 and finishing in 2003, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada rebuilt the dam. The new dam included a long fishway that runs along the north side. It is wide and includes seven vertical baffles within the structure that are designed to reduce flow velocities to create refuges for migrating fish. At the upstream end of the fishway, there is a 1.5 by 1.5-metre gated bay. The dam itself is long and high. The dam consists of four gates, each wide and high. Water flow can be reduced through the dam's gates so that water backfloods up Last Mountain Creek and into

. In that case, Last Mountain Lake, which is a natural lake, becomes a reservoir. When the dam's gates are open, water from Last Mountain Lake and the Qu'Appelle River flow east and downstream into

Pasqua Lake Pasqua Lake is a lake along the course of the Qu'Appelle River in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Pasqua Lake was named after Chief Joseph Pasqua who formed what became the Pasqua First Nation. It is one of four lakes that make up the ...

, which is one of the

Fishing Lakes The Fishing Lakes, also called the Calling Lakes or the Qu'Appelle Lakes, are a chain of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley cottage country about 40 miles (64 km) to the north-east of Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. T ...

. The fishway is designed with bays that allow researchers to drop a steel fish trap to capture fish for study. Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags were implemented into the abdominal cavity of fish and used to assess fish movements through the fishway. Some of the fished being monitored include the

bigmouth buffalo Bigmouth may refer to: * "Bigmouth", a song by Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. C ...

, common carp,

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 ...

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 p ...

quillback The quillback (''Carpiodes cyprinus''), also known as the quillback carpsucker, is a type of freshwater fish of the sucker family widely distributed throughout North America. It is deeper-bodied than most suckers, leading to a carplike appearan ...

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 ...

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 common ...

, and

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 Sam ...

References

{{authority control Dams in Saskatchewan

See also

References