West English River Provincial Park is a

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

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 spans along the English River from Barnston Lake to Tide Lake and also includes all the shores and waters of Wegg, Goose, Wilcox, Unexpected, Oak, and Maynard Lakes. The park's notable features include old growth red and white pine stands at the northern extent of their range, and

migmatite Migmatite is a composite rock found in medium and high-grade metamorphic environments, commonly within Precambrian cratonic blocks. It consists of two or more constituents often layered repetitively: one layer is an older metamorphic rock tha ...

s that are provincially-significant examples of metatexitic and diatexitic

metasedimentary rock In geology, metasedimentary rock is a type of metamorphic rock. Such a rock was first formed through the deposition and solidification of sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and er ...

s. It borders on Tide Lake and Maynard Lake Provincial Nature Reserves. It can be accessed via Highway 671 and Highway 804. Flora and fauna are mostly typical of the 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, ...

. Almost half of the park’s forests consist of fir-spruce mixedwood. 307 vascular plant species have been identified, of which 18 are provincially rare species. 16 species of mammals, 76 birds, 5 amphibians, 2 reptiles, and 18

odonate Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous. The two common ...

s have been found, including the following 6 provincially-rare species:

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 ...

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 ...

American white pelican The American white pelican (''Pelecanus erythrorhynchos'') is a large aquatic soaring bird from the order Pelecaniformes. It breeds in interior North America, moving south and to the coasts, as far as Central America and South America, in winte ...

, elusive clubtail, Williamson’s emerald, and

lake sturgeon The lake sturgeon (''Acipenser fulvescens''), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder with evolutionarily basal t ...

. Predominant fish species in the park are bass,

ciscoes The ciscoes (or ''ciscos'') are salmonid fish that differ from other members of the genus in having upper and lower jaws of approximately equal length and high gill raker counts. These species have been the focus of much study recently, as rese ...

mooneye Hiodontidae, commonly called mooneyes, is a family of ray-finned fish with a single included genus ''Hiodon''. The genus comprise two living species native to North America and three to five extinct species recorded from Paleocene to Eocene age ...

muskellunge The muskellunge ''(Esox masquinongy)'', often shortened to muskie, musky or lunge is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. Origin of name The name "muskellun ...

, perch, pike,

sauger The sauger (''Sander canadensis'') is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae that resembles its close relative, the walleye. The species is a member of the largest vertebrate order, the Perciformes.Jaeger, Matthew. 2004. Montana's Fi ...

, and walleye. The river inside this park is affected by 2 dams (Manitou Dam and Caribou Falls Dam) that have an unnatural flow regime with a water level peak in October (typically peak is in May for unregulated rivers). This has probably had a negative impact on vegetation, wildlife, and shoreline erosion. The lakes, making up 66% of the park's area, are mesotrophic and relatively

turbid Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

. It is a non-operating park without any facilities or services, but there are some commercial outfitters on Unexpected and Maynard Lakes. The park can be used for recreational activities such as boating, backcountry camping, canoeing, fishing, hiking, swimming, and hunting.

References

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

See also

References