Click on image for larger map

Land Designation

Wildlife Management Area

Landscape Description

Whitemouth Bog Wildlife Management Area is located in southeast Manitoba, near the community of Seven Sisters Falls, southwest of Whiteshell Provincial Park. The Whitemouth Bog Wildlife Management Area consists of peat-covered lowlands of fens and bogs, as well as the remnants of beaches and sand bars that were once the ancient shorelines of glacial Lake Agassiz. The area is dominated by black spruce in the low-lying bog peatlands, as well as mixed forest vegetation in the uplands, including jack pine and trembling aspen.

The 3,010 hectare wildlife management area borders the Whitemouth Bog Ecological Reserve, providing additional protection for the bog while allowing existing recreational activities, such as snowmobiling along designated trails, hunting, and berry picking to continue. These lands are protected from logging, mining, hydroelectric development, oil and gas development, and any other activities that could significantly and adversely affect habitat. 

Outstanding Features

Whitemouth Bog, with its organic deposits and woody forest peat soils, is home to a wide variety of plants and animals, including several rare species. These include the rare rose pogonia orchid, and two uncommon plants - the yellow twayblade  and bog goldenrod. The uncommon yellow rail, a bird listed as a Species of Special Concern under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, has also been observed in the area.

The forest and bogs of the WMA provide exceptional habitat for great gray owls, Manitoba’s provincial bird, northern hawk owls, and other boreal owls. The site also includes calcareous fens, one of the rarest wetland types in North America. A calcareous fen is a type of peatland characterized by a fluctuating water table. Fens are fed by groundwater rich in calcium and magnesium bicarbonate and are more mineral rich and less acidic than bogs.

The Whitemouth Bog Wildlife Management Area was established to protect and enhance natural habitat, conserve biodiversity, and provide opportunities for compatible recreational activities requiring little or no development. This protected area is categorized as an IUCN (World Conservation Union) protected area management category II, that is, an area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation.