The East English River Provincial Park is a linear waterway

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

Kenora District Kenora District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The district seat is the City of Kenora. It is geographically the largest division in Ontario: at , it covers 38 percent of the province's area, making it large ...

, Ontario, Canada. It includes a wide strip of land on both sides of the English River and its lakes, from the intersection of Highway 599 to

Minnitaki Lake Minnitaki Lake is a large lake with numerous islands in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada. The nearest city is Sioux Lookout. See also *List of lakes in Ontario This is an incomplete list of lakes in Ontario, a province of Canada. There are over 2 ...

. It was established in 2003 to protect natural features, that are representative of the area, and high quality recreational canoe routes with over 30 sets of rapids. The park's notable features include

white pine ''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...

forest at the northern extent of its range, white elm and

burr oak ''Quercus macrocarpa'', the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus'', and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub oa ...

, caribou habitat and calving locations, fisheries, and archaeological sites.

Description

The park includes all the shores and waters of (in upstream order) Loggers, Flying Loon, Press, Hughes, Hut, and Barrel Lakes, as well as partially Jarvis Lake. It borders on the Upper English River Conservation Reserve that follows the river eastwards and eventually, via the Shikag River, connects with the Brightsand River Provincial Park. The section of the English River within the park and upstream to its source is notable for its unregulated flow and unpolluted waters, unique for a large river system in northwestern Ontario. Its minimum flow is in April, while it increases to a peak flow of in late May. There are several

pictograph A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and gr ...

locations within the park, likely dating back to the

Woodland Culture In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeologi ...

. The area was extensively logged in the 20th century and many relics remain of former logging operations. A

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...

was located on Press Lake during World War II. It is a non-operating park without any facilities or services, but there is a commercial outfitter on Press Lake. The park can be used for recreational activities such as boating, backcountry camping, canoeing, fishing, hiking, swimming, and hunting. It is accessible via Highway 599 and former logging roads.

Flora and fauna

The flora and fauna is typical of southern

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, ...

with some Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest features (such as

red pine ''Pinus resinosa'', known as red pine (also Norway pine in Minnesota), is a pine native to North America. Description Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from in height and in trun ...

, white pine, and

blackcurrant The blackcurrant (''Ribes nigrum''), also known as black currant or cassis, is a deciduous shrub in the family Grossulariaceae grown for its edible berries. It is native to temperate parts of central and northern Europe and northern Asia, whe ...

). A total of 269 vascular plant species have been identified in the park. Significant plant species include the provincially-rare fir clubmoss (''

Huperzia selago ''Huperzia selago'', the northern firmoss or fir clubmoss, is a vascular plant in the family Lycopodiaceae. It has a circumpolar distribution in temperate and boreal regions in both hemispheres. Distribution and habitat It is found in the north ...

'') and interior rush ('' Juncus interior''). Wildlife in the park includes 81 species of birds (such as

common loon The common loon or great northern diver (''Gavia immer'') is a large member of the loon, or diver, family of birds. Breeding adults have a plumage that includes a broad black head and neck with a greenish, purplish, or bluish sheen, blackish o ...

and

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

), 14 species of mammals (such as

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 ...

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 ...

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

, and

eastern wolf The eastern wolf (''Canis lycaon'' or ''Canis lupus lycaon'' or ''Canis rufus lycaon'') also known as the timber wolf, Algonquin wolf or eastern timber wolf, is a canine of debated taxonomy native to the Great Lakes region and southeastern Canad ...

), 2 reptiles, 4 amphibians, 16 odonates, and 21 fish species (such as

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 ...

, smallmouth bass,

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 ...

, 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 Samu ...

). Provincially rare animal species present are the

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...

(''Haliaeetus leucocephalus''), rusty snaketail ('' Ophiogomphus rupinsulensis''), and delicate emerald ('' Somatochlora franklini'').

References

{{Ontario parks Provincial parks of Ontario Parks in Kenora District