Whitemouth Falls Provincial Park Expansion

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Land Designation

Provincial Park

Landscape Description

Whitemouth Falls Provincial Park is located 90 km north-east of Winnipeg, just north of the community of Seven Sisters Falls.  The park was initially established in 1974, and while much of its area has been used for Hydro transmission lines, drainage works, and access related to the Seven Sisters power plant and townsite, the falls have become a popular recreational day-use, fishing and picnicking area.  Recent discussions between the R.M. of Whitemouth, Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Conservation have identified local land use options of benefit to all three parties.  The result of a subsequent public review of these options is a boundary adjustment that removes 121 hectares of land with low ecological value and adds an adjacent area of about 430 hectares of open tamarack forest north of the Winnipeg River to Whitemouth Falls Provincial Park.

Outstanding Features

The new addition to the park provides excellent habitat for Manitoba’s provincial bird, the Great Gray Owl, which is North America’s largest owl and is a regular year-round resident in Manitoba.  This site is a known and provincially significant staging and migration area for this spectacular bird of prey.  This site is Manitoba’s first area designated specifically to conserve, manage and maintain the habitat of the Great Gray Owl.  It is the only area in Manitoba with signage identifying the site as having high use by the owls.

Categorized as Backcountry Land Use Category (LUC), this site will also contribute to Manitoba’s network of protected areas by prohibiting logging, mining, hydro, oil and gas development, and other activities that significantly and adversely affect habitat.  This portion of the park is categorized as an IUCN (World Conservation Union) protected area management category II, that is a protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation.

The area of the park designated Recreational Development LUC to the south of the Winnipeg River will continue to provide recreational opportunities and experiences in a natural setting that includes picnicking, fishing at the falls and White Pelican viewing. 

There are three known archaeological sites of significance adjacent to Whitemouth Falls.  Research into these sites indicates that they were used as campsites and were frequented as much as 4,800 years ago.  These sites are retained in the new park designation.