Deer Lake is a lake in central Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Deer Lake is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna and features a number of walking trails. These trails connect the lake and its surrounding forests and fields to a number of amenities, including a boat launch, picnic sites, a playground, washrooms, the Burnaby Art Gallery, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Burnaby Village Museum, and Century Gardens, as well as the surrounding community and long trails for walking.

Culture

The north side of Deer Lake Park, with Deer Lake at its centre, is home to several Arts and Culture destinations. The Burnaby Art Gallery, housed at Ceperley Mansion, provides access to historical and contemporary art, cares for and manages the City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection. The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts is multi-purpose community arts facility provides public exhibitions, performances, festivals, and arts classes year-round. As well, concerts and festivals are held in the park immediately south of Shadbolt Centre. Burnaby Village Museum contains a combination of heritage and replica buildings depicting life in the region in the 1920s, and includes the vintage C. W. Parker Carousel.

Activities

Deer Lake Boat Rentals offers canoe, kayak, pedal boat, and rowboat rentals to the public during the summer months. Gas or electric motors are not allowed on this lake.

History

Deer Lake and the surrounding park is a highly altered habitat. The vegetation natural to the area is temperate rainforest dominated by conifers such as Tsuga heterophylla, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Thuja plicata. Most of this forest, whose trees were considered particularly tall for the Lower Mainland, was logged in the first few years of the 20th century. While

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 ...

sculpin A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand a ...

, and

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the clade Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. In some locations, they are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobsters, mu ...

were likely native to Deer Lake, most of the aquatic animals are introduced species. These invasive species include bullfrog,

ictalurid The Ictaluridae, sometimes called ictalurids, are a family of catfish native to North America, where they are an important food source and sometimes fished for sport. The family includes about 51 species, some commonly known as bullheads, mad ...

catfish and

carp Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. While carp is consumed in many parts of the world, they are generally considered an invasive species in parts of ...

. ''The Legend of Deer Lake'', as told by

E. Pauline Johnson Emily Pauline Johnson (10 March 1861 – 7 March 1913), also known by her Mohawk stage name ''Tekahionwake'' (pronounced ''dageh-eeon-wageh'', ), was a Canadian poet, author, and performer who was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centu ...

, is a Coast Salish tale about a hidden waterway between False Creek and Deer Lake.Johnson, E. Pauline. 1926. Legends of Vancouver. McLelland and Stewart It was discovered by a young Indian, the first chief Capilano, who speared a "king" harbour seal in False Creek with his elk antler spear with western red cedar line. The seal escaped through a hidden underground creek, and he spent months looking for it by the shore. One day he was "beckoned" inland by what turned out to be the flames of a forest fire. On the shore of Deer Lake he found the remains of the seal and recovered his spear, and with it, his prowess as a hunter. Today there is a

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

development overlooking the lake where Oakalla Prison, a maximum security prison farm, once existed. Deer Lake School (K-12) located nearby is named for the lake.

References

External links

City of Burnaby - Deer Lake Park
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{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090703080721/http://www.burnaby.ca/cityhall/departments/departments_parks/Parks/Parks_and_Trails/prksrc_prksan/Natural_Feature_Parks/prksrc_prksan_drlkpr/Deer_Lake_Phase_II_Development.html , date=2009-07-03 Lakes and waterways of Burnaby Parks in Burnaby Neighbourhoods in Burnaby Lakes of the Lower Mainland New Westminster Land District