Kesagami Provincial Park is in

Cochrane District Cochrane District is a district and Census divisions of Canada, census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming District, Timiskami ...

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Provi ...

, Canada. It was established in 1983 and provides backcountry canoeing, camping, and fishing opportunities. The bulk of the park consists of a large near-rectangular piece of land surrounding

Kesagami Lake Kesagami Lake is a lake of Cochrane District, in Northeastern Ontario, in Canada. It is a shallow lake that was formed assumedly by glacial erosion and unique for its size in the James Bay area. Entirely protected within Kesagami Provincial Par ...

, as well as a linear park that protects a wide strip of land on both sides of the Kesagami River from Kesagami Lake to its mouth at the

Harricana River The Harricana River (french: Rivière Harricana) (also known as Harricanaw River) is a river in western Quebec and northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is long, has a drainage area of , and has a mean discharge of . While 80% of its drainage area is ...

. Its name means "warm water". The remote park, one of the most northerly in the province and just south of the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowp ...

, is in the

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost par ...

lowlands. Its flat, poorly drained terrain is frozen for much of the year. Annual report (1904) (14742192046)

Notable features of the park include historical and archaeological locations, calving sites of

woodland caribou Woodland caribou may refer to two North American reindeer (''Rangifer tarandus'') populations: * Boreal woodland caribou The boreal woodland caribou (''Rangifer tarandus caribou''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision. See Reindeer: taxon ...

, the Kesagami River canoe route from Kesagami Lake to Hannah Bay, and typical flora and fauna of

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, ...

. Another highlight of the park is the Kesagami Lake, unique for its size in the James Bay area. This shallow lake is renowned for its trophy pike and walleye fishing. Furthermore, the

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

cliffs along the shores of Kesagami Lake, which have been carved by the waves into bizarre forms of deep caverns and thick columns, have long been recognized as "exceptional". It is a non-operating park, meaning that there are no facilities or services, and is only accessible via air or water. There is one commercial lodge present on Kesagami Lake.

History

In 1777, the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

opened Mesackamee House, a trading post on Kesagami Lake, which was formerly also called Mesackamee or Mesackamy Lake. While the post was intended to protect business at Abitibi from competitors, it was abandoned by October 1779. The park was established on June 7, 1983, and expanded by the following year.

Flora and fauna

Its terrain is characterized by peat bogs,

muskeg Muskeg (Ojibwe: mashkiig; cr, maskīk; french: fondrière de mousse, lit. ''moss bog'') is a peat-forming ecosystem found in several northern climates, most commonly in Arctic and boreal areas. Muskeg is approximately synonymous with bog or ...

s, and large

fen-meadow A fen-meadow is a type of peatland, common in North America and Europe, that receives water from precipitation and groundwater. Habitat The continuous flow of mineral-rich and nutrient-poor acidic groundwater through fen-meadow topsoil fosters ...

s. Stunted black spruce (''

Picea mariana ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...

'') are the dominant tree species, with sporadic balsam, fir, and larch stands. Other tree species found are tamarack (''

Larix laricina ''Larix laricina'', commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and als ...

''), trembling aspen (''

Populus tremuloides ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen, trembling aspen, American aspen, mountain or golden aspen, tr ...

''), and white birch (''

Betula papyrifera ''Betula papyrifera'' (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named for the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper like ...

'') Animals in the park include

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 ...

, woodland caribou, bear, wolf, bog lemmings,

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

s, and

marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on t ...

s. Fish species in Kesagami Lake include

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 ...

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

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 ...

, common

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 commonl ...

and

longnose sucker The longnose sucker (''Catostomus catostomus'') is a species of cypriniform freshwater fish in the family Catostomidae. It is native to North America from the northern United States to the top of the continent. It is also found in Russia in rive ...

perch Perch is a common name for fish of the genus ''Perca'', freshwater gamefish belonging to the family Percidae. The perch, of which three species occur in different geographical areas, lend their name to a large order of vertebrates: the Percif ...

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

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 ...

References

{{Ontario parks Provincial parks of Ontario Protected areas of Cochrane District