Turtle Mountain 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 ...

located in the southwestern portion of the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

province of

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

. Within it are the Adam Lake and Max Lake campgrounds. The park is known for its bike trails, fishing, back country cabins and canoe routes. The park is very popular with families and outdoor enthusiasts. The park is named after the numerous

painted turtle The painted turtle (''Chrysemys picta'') is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They have been shown to prefer l ...

s found in the area."Turtle Mountain Provincial Park". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 23 May 2019, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/turtle-mountain-provincial-park. Accessed 24 September 2019. The turtles can be seen throughout the warmer months sun bathing near permanent ponds or lakes in the park. In late spring and early summer the females can be seen laying eggs in sandy soil throughout the park. The turtles live in the shallow lakes in the park.Braman, D., Sweet, A., & Lerbekmo, J. (1999). Upper Cretaceous - lower tertiary lithostratigraphic relationships of three cores from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 36(5), 669-683. Turtle Mountain Provincial Park was designated a provincial park by the Government of Manitoba in 1961. The park is in size. The park is considered to be a Class II protected area under the IUCN protected area management categories. It is adjacent to the international border between Canada and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Its southeast corner is adjacent to the

International Peace Garden The International Peace Garden is a park located adjacent to the International Peace Garden Border Crossing along the Canada–United States border between the province of Manitoba and the state of North Dakota. It was established on July 14, ...

which is located in both Manitoba and the U.S. state of

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

. To the east is the William Lake Provincial Park, home to the William Lake Campground, and the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration. To the north is the town of Boissevain, with the city of

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name *Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

farther north. Most of the park is situated in the southwesternmost section of the

Municipality of Boissevain – Morton The Municipality of Boissevain – Morton is a rural municipality (RM) in the Westman Region of the Canadian province of Manitoba. History The RM was incorporated on January 1, 2015 via the amalgamation of the RM of Morton and the Town of Boi ...

, while the rest of it lies in the southeast corner of the

Municipality of Deloraine – Winchester The Municipality of Deloraine – Winchester is a rural municipality (RM) in the Canadian province of Manitoba. History The RM was incorporated on January 1, 2015 via the amalgamation of the RM of Winchester and the Town of Deloraine. It was ...

. The park is nearly coterminous with the slightly larger Turtle Mountain Provincial Forest. The only difference is a small section of the forest lying east of

Manitoba Highway 10 Provincial Trunk Highway 10 (PTH 10) is a provincial primary highway located in the Canadian province of Manitoba. PTH 10 begins at the International Peace Garden along the Canada–United States border near Boissevain. The highway runs north ...

at the southeast corner of the forest (near the International Peace Garden), which is outside the park's territory.

History

Early history

Following the last ice age, Turtle Mountain Provincial Park became the first inhabited location in Manitoba. It is also the biggest remaining natural

deciduous forest In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

in southwestern Manitoba. Once coniferous forests grew and animals were attracted to the area, nomadic hunters soon followed. Stone tools have been found, confirming their presence. Based on the exhumed artifacts, archaeologists have concluded these people were hunter gatherers, not farmers. Turtle Mountain can be found on the Palliser map of 1865. In 1875

George Mercer Dawson George Mercer Dawson (August 1, 1849 – March 2, 1901) was a Canadian geologist and surveyor. Biography He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, Principal of McGill University and a noted geologis ...

became the first geologist to travel through Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. Dawson noted the glacial deposits throughout the park.

Indigenous peoples

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which derives ...

from the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assiniboia, Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hud ...

travelled to Turtle Mountain Provincial Park for annual hunting trips between 1810 and 1870. After the

buffalo hunt Buffalo most commonly refers to: * Bubalina, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York Buffalo or buffaloes may also refer to: Animals * Bubalina, a subtribe of the t ...

ended many Métis built homesteads within the park. The location was known by the Métis as Tête de Tortue, seeing a resemblance to the buckler of a turtle, its head being represented by the conical mound standing out from one end (CPCGN files). Two notable cultural sites are the Dunseith Trail and Oskar Lake archeological site. The Dunseith Trail was the first trail across Turtle Mountain, and the archeological site was used by Cree hunters over 400 years ago.

Use and activities

Formerly, the park was predominantly used for agricultural purposes due to the presence of hardwoods.Turtle Mountain Provincial Park Management Plan. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/parks/pdf/planning/turtle_mountain_management_plan.pdf The area is no longer dependent on Turtle Mountain for timber, so it is now mainly used for recreation and ranching. There is a trail system used for biking, hiking, and horseback riding. There are also various beaches, playgrounds, and picnic areas for recreational use. The

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

of many of the water bodies can make it difficult for recreation in the summer. The most common type of farming is grain farming.Eilers, R.G., et al (1978). Soils of the Boissevain Melita Area, Manitoba Department of Agriculture, Report No. 20.

Geography

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is situated on the

Turtle Mountain (plateau) Turtle Mountain, or the Turtle Mountains, is an area in central North America, in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of North Dakota and southwestern portion of the Canadian province of Manitoba, approximately south of the city of Brando ...

, one of a number of significant geographic features located along the Manitoba Escarpment, the Canadian portion of the

Pembina Escarpment The Pembina Escarpment is a scarp that runs from South Dakota to Manitoba, and forms the western wall of the Red River Valley. The height of the escarpment above the river valley is . Geology The escarpment was originally formed by the undercut ...

. It is located in the Southwest Manitoba Uplands

Ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

, within the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

.Smith, R.E., H. Veldhuis, G.F. Mills, R.G. Eilers, W.R. Fraser, and G.W. Lelyk. 1998. Technical Bulletin 1998-9E. Land Resource Unit, Brandon Research Centre, Research Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Report and map at 1:1 500 000 scale The park is situated at an elevation of 245 metres.Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/parks/park-maps-and-locations/western/turtle.html This region is covered by glacial till and

fluvioglacial deposits Glaciofluvial deposits or Glacio-fluvial sediments consist of boulders, gravel, sand, silt and clay from ice sheets or glaciers. They are transported, sorted and deposited by streams of water. The deposits are formed beside, below or downstream ...

, which remain from the

pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

ice age. A study of

dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...

s confirmed the

paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 mya (unit), million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), E ...

age of the Turtle Mountain formation.McIntyre, D. (1999). Campanian to Paleocene dinoflagellate assemblages from the Turtle Mountain core hole, Manitoba, western Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 36(5), 769-774. Once deglaciation finished 14,000 years ago the irregular melting pattern left the area covered in hummocky terrain. The soils are mainly grey and black chernozems. There are grey luvisols at higher elevations. The bedrock in the park is composed of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

lignite coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

. There are over 200 lakes and wetlands in this region. Many of the shorelines are covered in thick vegetation due to the

littoral zone The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

cattails ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...

. This park is home to the largest

oak trees An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

in Manitoba, which are the lone survivors of a fire that occurred in the early 20th century. Many of the water bodies are less than 15 feet deep, which often results in a winter decline in fish populations due to lack of oxygen.

Flora and fauna

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is located within the

temperate deciduous forest Temperate deciduous or temperate broad-leaf forests are a variety of temperate forest 'dominated' by trees that lose their leaves each year. They are found in areas with warm moist summers and cool winters. The six major areas of this forest type ...

, and is predominantly covered by

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 ...

(trembling aspen). Other vegetation species include

balsam poplar ''Populus balsamifera'', commonly called balsam poplar, bam, bamtree, eastern balsam-poplar, hackmatack, tacamahac poplar, tacamahaca, is a tree species in the balsam poplar species group in the poplar genus, ''Populus.'' The genus name ''Populus ...

and

bur 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 ...

. Turtle mountain is home to many wildlife species such as

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 ...

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 ...

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

raccoons The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of . ...

, and various types of birds. The lakes contain various fish species such as

rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

and

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

References

External links

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park at the Manitoba Conservation Web site

Map of Turtle Mountain Provincial Forest / Turtle Mountain Provincial ParkTurtle Mountain Provincial Park Management Plan, Manitoba Natural Resources - Parks, 1985iNaturalist: Turtle Mountain Provincial ParkeBird: Turtle Mountain Provincial Park
{{Authority control Provincial parks of Manitoba Protected areas established in 1961 1961 establishments in Manitoba Protected areas of Manitoba