Protected Areas Initiative

Manitoba's Network of Protected Areas

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Armit Meadows Ecological Reserve

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Land Designation

Ecological reserves play a key role in Manitoba’s Protected Areas Initiative by protecting unique, rare and representative examples of plants, animals, geological features and ecosystems. They are the most protected of the provincially designated sites within Manitoba’s network of protected areas.

Landscape Description

The 263 hectare Armit Meadows Ecological Reserve is located within Porcupine Provincial Forest, situated in the northern portion of Manitoba’s Western Upland Natural Region near the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border.  This impressive site includes the southeastern portion of the Armit River Canyon and part of the Armit River Valley.  Spruce forest dominates the landscape, but a series of small meadows supporting grassland or wetland communities are also dispersed throughout the ecological reserve.

Outstanding Features

Armit Meadows Ecological Reserve encompasses a pristine riparian zone, undisturbed by human activity.  The most striking features of this site are the isolated fescue meadows containing remnants of the endangered fescue prairie ecosystem.  These meadows, totaling approximately seven hectares in size, are the most northerly known location of fescue prairie in Manitoba .

Once extending over 255,000 km², only five percent of the original fescue prairie ecosystem remains on the Canadian prairies.  The majority of this land has been utilized for cereal crop production, with only remnants of fescue prairie located along the northern fringe of the prairie region.  Though not as scarce as tall grass prairie, fescue prairie is rare in Manitoba, the most notable meadows occurring in Riding Mountain National Park where it covers an estimated 600 hectares.

Plants of the grass genus Fescue (Festuca sp.) dominate the fescue prairie meadows, while other dominant species include Awned Wheat Grass (Agropyron subsecundum), Cow-parsnip (Heracleum lanatum), Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale) and Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium).  Other species found within the ecological reserve include Prickly Rose (Rosa acicularis), Early Blue Violet (Viola adunca), Creamy Peavine (Laythyrus ochroleucus), Narrow-leaved Meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) and Hairy Woodrush (Luzula acuminata), as well as several members of the aster family.  The prairie provides significant winter habitat for elk, known to rely on a diet of grasses and grass-like plants during the winter months.

The ecological reserve also supports some dry Sphagnum meadows dominated by Sphagnum mosses (Sphagnum spp), Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), Sheathed Cotton-grass (Eriophorum vaginatum), Sedges (Carex spp), Swamp Birch (Betula pumila) and Small Bog Cranberry (Oxycoccus microcarpus).  Large Sphagnum dominated openings may not be common in the Porcupine Hills, but they are encountered frequently in other parts of Manitoba.

The small fescue meadows support species unlikely to be encountered elsewhere in this region of Manitoba, hence acting as an important reservoir for biodiversity.  The Armit River Canyon and meadows thus comprise a visually and ecologically spectacular site, making Armit Meadows Ecological Reserve an esteemed new addition to Manitoba’s network of protected areas.

As an ecological reserve, the Armit Meadows site will be maintained for the preservation and protection of pristine riparian habitat.  Passive visits on foot will be allowed without a permit. All other activities will require prior approval.

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