Quesnel Lake is a

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, and is the major tributary of the Fraser River. With a maximum depth of , it is claimed to be the deepest fjord lake in the world, the deepest lake in BC, and the third-deepest lake in North America, after

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake (french: Grand lac des Esclaves), known traditionally as Tıdeè in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì (Dogrib), Tinde’e in Wıìlıìdeh Yatii / Tetsǫ́t’ıné Yatıé (Dogrib / Chipewyan), Tu Nedhé in Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé (Chi ...

and

Crater Lake Crater Lake (Klamath language, Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The ...

. On August 4, 2014, the

tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlie ...

pond of

Mount Polley mine The Mount Polley mine is a Canadian List of gold mines in Canada, gold and List of copper mines in Canada, copper mine located in British Columbia near the towns of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Williams Lake, and Likely, British Columbia, Like ...

burst, spilling tailings into

Polley Lake The Mount Polley mine is a Canadian List of gold mines in Canada, gold and List of copper mines in Canada, copper mine located in British Columbia near the towns of Williams Lake, British Columbia, Williams Lake, and Likely, British Columbia, Like ...

and Quesnel Lake and temporarily depriving residents of

Likely, British Columbia Likely is a unincorporated community in British Columbia, Canada. It is located in the Cariboo region of the province, and is situated where the west arm of Quesnel Lake empties into the Quesnel River. Roads from Likely lead southwest to Willi ...

, of fresh water for household use. In 2017, the Mount Polley mine was granted a permit to discharge mine wastewater into Quesnel Lake. Forestry, mining and fishing are popular in this area. Quesnel Lake is also a trophy lake because live bait or barbed hooks are not allowed. Catch-and-release restrictions apply to

Steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...

fish shorter than 10 cm or longer than 50 cm.

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 ...

, Dolly Varden and other species of lake trouts are common. Fish habitats established in Hazeltine creek are supporting the trout population in local waterways include in Quesnel lake. Quesnel lake offers the ability to fish right from shore and along tributary streams, or to explore the lake by boat, kayak, canoe, or paddleboard during the summer months.

References

Sources

* * Lakes of the Cariboo Glacial lakes of Canada Cariboo Land District {{cariboo-geo-stub