The UNESCO Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve covers 112,200 hectares in the province of Saskatchewan, south-west Canada. The regional landscape is composed of rolling prairie dotted with seasonal ponds and marshes along with aspen/shrub groves. The core area is a saline lake with several islands. There are small patches of natural mixed prairie which are very rare in this highly grazed and cultivated part of the prairies. Redberry Lake is a closed basin in which water entering the lake does not pass out through downstream flows. The lake itself is a large kettle hole characterized by a central flat bottom. Gently shelving underwater slopes occur above depths of approximately 25 m. Water is shallowest in the south-west, south-east and north-east areas, and around the islands.
Major habitats and land cover types include: typical prairie grasses such as wheat grass, fescue, oat grass and sedges; forest dominated by aspen with shrubs such as Rasp, silver willow and hawthorn; a saline lake with rocky islands; farmland cultivated with wheat and barley; and pasture land. The reserve provides habitats for nine endangered, threatened or rare bird species, as well as over 180 other species including the White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca), California gull (Larus californicus), ring-bill gull (Larus delawarensis) and piping plovers (Charadrius melodus). A key research activity undertaken in the area is monitoring of American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) nesting sites.
Photo: Wikipedia