Frank Lake is a restored wetland located east of High River, Alberta, south of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, near Blackie. The lake is controlled by Ducks Unlimited Canada for wildlife management purposes, and is an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

. It is one of four Alberta lakes with the same name.

Conservation and management

The lake has had a history of years of being completely dry, and years of being flooded. The main goal of managing Frank Lake is to ensure that the lake is a permanent water body, which will improve wildlife habitat. Water control measures have been implemented to help ensure that water levels are maintained. Measures include the building of dikes and water control structures as well as the building of a pipeline from High River to channel treated

effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pollut ...

from the town of High River and a local food processing plant. Water quality is regularly monitored. Nesting boxes, nesting platforms, and rock islands are among the structures placed around the lake to encourage nesting and improve habitat. The Important Bird Areas program considers Frank Lake to be the most important wetland in southwestern Alberta for the production of waterfowl and other water birds.

Nature and ecology

Frank Lake is located in the foothills fescue prairie ecoregion. The lake is a hemi-marsh, which means it roughly has the same area of open water as there is

emergent vegetation Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that g ...

. Vegetation includes mostly

hardstem bulrush ''Schoenoplectus acutus'' ( syn. ''Scirpus acutus, Schoenoplectus lacustris, Scirpus lacustris'' subsp. ''acutus''), called tule , common tule, hardstem tule, tule rush, hardstem bulrush, or viscid bulrush, is a giant species of sedge in the pl ...

sago pondweed ''Stuckenia pectinata'' (Synonym (taxonomy), syn. ''Potamogeton pectinatus''), commonly called sago pondweed or fennel pondweed, and sometimes called ribbon weed, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan water plant species that grows in fres ...

Richardson's pondweed ''Potamogeton richardsonii'' is a species of aquatic plant known by the common name Richardson's pondweed. It is native to much of northern North America, including all of Canada and the northern and western United States. It grows in water bodie ...

, and

northern watermilfoil ''Myriophyllum sibiricum'' is a species of water milfoil known by the common names shortspike watermilfoil, northern watermilfoil, and Siberian water-milfoil. It is native to Russia, China, and much of North America, where it grows in aquatic hab ...

. The lake and its surrounding upland areas attracts many species of birds. Waterfowl and shorebirds and other birds use the lake for staging during migration, and nesting. Some birds that can be seen here include: tundra swan, trumpeter swan,

Canada goose The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...

, northern pintail, Franklin's gull, ring-billed gull, California gull, common tern, short-eared owl,

eared grebe The black-necked grebe or eared grebe (''Podiceps nigricollis'') is a member of the grebe family of water birds. It was described in 1831 by Christian Ludwig Brehm. There are currently three accepted subspecies, including the nominate subspe ...

, marbled godwit, long-billed dowitcher, long-billed curlew, white-faced ibis,

black-crowned night-heron The black-crowned night heron (''Nycticorax nycticorax''), or black-capped night heron, commonly shortened to just night heron in Eurasia, is a medium-sized heron found throughout a large part of the world, including parts of Europe, Asia, and N ...

, and

black-necked stilt The black-necked stilt (''Himantopus mexicanus'') is a locally abundant shorebird of American wetlands and coastlines. It is found from the coastal areas of California through much of the interior western United States and along the Gulf of Mexic ...

. Birdwatching is a popular activity. Invasive Prussian carp have become established in the lake.

History

Survey reports from 1883 referred to Frank Lake as "a large lake", but early settlers in the area referred to the lake as Begg Lake, Green Lake, and Windsor Lake. It was named after Bishop Christopher Frank who established a nearby Mormon settlement known as Frankburg. The lake has always been used by hunters. In the early days, hunted waterfowl was shipped by the railway carload to the United States. Muskrats were also trapped. Feedlots became established in the area, and a feedlot known as a beef camp was set up on "the point" on the east side of Frank Lake. The cattle from the camp were exported to Britain. The lake was often very full or very dry. In the early 1900s there was so much water that travel to High River to the west was difficult. The lake dried out in the 1930s, 1940s, and the 1980s. In 1945 the lake was described as "a flat area of alkali dust". Flooding occurred in the 1950s and the mid 1970s. Severe flooding in 1952 prompted Ducks Unlimited to construct a drainage ditch. Further work to stabilize the water level in the lake began in 1975 when a weir was constructed on the lake's south end. The lake, however, dried up in the 1980s. To help ensure a long-term water supply, a pipeline was built to bring treated waste water from High River and the nearby

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in ter ...

meat packing plant. During World War II an area in the middle of the dry lake bed was used as a relief landing field for RCAF Station High River

Citations

References

Welcoming Back Wildlife-Frank Lake Conservation Area, home to some of the most important wetlands in southwestern Alberta, is an amazing story of rejuvenation
Retrieved August 7, 2017
Nature Calgary - Frank Lake
Retrieved April 29, 2012
Important Bird Areas in Canada - Frank Lake
Retrieved April 29, 2012
Government of Alberta - An Overview of Water Quality in Frank Lake 1990-1993
Retrieved July 7, 2018
ResearchGate: Frank Lake
Retrieved August 7, 2017
Fencelines and Furrows Historical Book Society. ''Fencelines and Furrows''. First Edition, 1969. No ISBN.
Retrieved July 11, 2018
Frank Lake
Retrieved July 16, 2018

External links

Restoration of a Canadian Prairie Wetland with Agricultural and Municipal Wastewaterebird Canada - Bird Observations, Frank Lake (south)
{{authority control Lakes of Alberta Important Bird Areas of Alberta Marshes of Canada RCAF Aerodrome Frank Lake (New)