Within the City of Regina, Saskatchewan
Latitude 50° 26' N
Longitude 104° 36' W
Area - 104 hectares
Land Ownership - City of Regina, Saskatchewan Power Corporation, University of Regina, and Wascana Centre Authority

Major Habitat Types

Open water and marsh - 55%
Islands - 5%
City Park - 40%

Description of the Area

The Sanctuary embraces part of Wascana Waterfowl Park which is located within a larger park complex, Wascana Centre. The park complex, developed around a man-made lake and associated marshes on Wascana Creek, includes the Museum of Natural History, the Legislative Buildings, the main campus of the University of Regina and several other buildings. Large expanses of lawn interspersed with native and exotic trees, shrubs and flowers occur throughout the park complex. Native upland vegetation including snowberry (Symphoricarpus occidentalis), rose (Rosa spp.), scarlet mallow (Sphaeralcea coccinea), woolly yarrow (Achillea lanulosa) and Lewis' wild flax (Linum lewisii) are found within the Sanctuary.

Most of the emergent vegetation occurs on the southeast portion of the lake and along the banks of Wascana Creek where there are dense stands of cattail (Typha latifolia), bulrush (Scirpus spp.), sedges (Carex spp.) and phragmites (Phragmites communis). Submergent vegetation includes pondweeds (Potamogeton spp.) and water milfoil (Myriophyllum spp.), found throughout the lake, and hornwort (Ceratophyllum dermersum), water crowfoot (Ranunculus spp.) and other species found in association with the emergent aquatics. Three man-made islands within the Sanctuary provide protected nesting habitat for waterfowl.

A 40-hectare parcel of land adjacent to the southeast end of the Sanctuary is used for lure crops to protect nearby commercial grain crops outside the city limits.

Public Use

The major public use of the Sanctuary is by local residents and visitors interested in sight-seeing in the Park. Several picnic and barbecue areas, field sport facilities and a children's playground, are maintained.

Sailing, rowing, canoeing, skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ice boating are popular activities. Power boating and fishing are not permitted within the Waterfowl Park.

The Wascana Centre employs a full time naturalist for the benefit of the many visitors to the Park. Thousands of children visit the Park annually.

Importance to the Resource

Over 200 breeding pairs of Canada Geese nest in the Park each year. The main duck species which regularly nest here are Mallard, Pintail and Blue-winged Teal. The Sanctuary also attracts large numbers of spring and fall staging waterfowl, particularly Canada Geese. In recent years, up to 7,500 geese have used the area. Canada Geese from the Wascana flock have been used in restocking programs throughout Saskatchewan and as far away as Quebec, British Columbia, Florida and New Mexico.

Other water and marsh birds which nest in the area are Pied-billed, Horned and Eared grebes; Common and Black terns; Sora; Marsh Wren; and Red-winged, Yellow-headed and Brewer's blackbirds. Breeding shorebirds include Killdeer, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper and Wilson's Phalarope. The upland habitat supports a variety of breeding songbirds including flycatchers, swallows and sparrows.

Over 115 species are migrant visitors including the Common Loon, White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue and Black-crowned Night herons and Tundra Swan, Forster's Tern and several shorebird species.

Historical Notes and Land-Use Conflicts

In the early 1950s when the City of Regina began expanding, Fred Bard, Director of the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History initiated action to preserve the Park area surrounding Wascana Lake, creek and contiguous marshes. On July 12, 1956, the Wascana Lake Bird Sanctuary was established by Order-In-Council P.C. 1956-1060. Since then, the City of Regina and the Wascana Centre Authority (an eleven-member statutory group established in 1962 to represent the City of Regina, the Government of Saskatchewan and the University of Regina) have developed and administered the park complex including the Sanctuary.

The Canadian Wildlife Service evaluated the Sanctuary in 1957 primarily because of proposed plans by the City of Regina and the Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History to develop the Sanctuary as a wildlife and recreational area. Apparently, no specific recommendation was made to retain or delist the Sanctuary because of the proposed recreational development.

Two further evaluations of the Sanctuary by CWS were done to determine the future sanctuary status of the area. In 1971 it was recommended that the Sanctuary be delisted because the City of Regina and the Wascana Centre Authority assumed administrative control of the area. The 1972 investigation also recommended that the Sanctuary be delisted primarily because migratory birds using the area are protected by the City of Regina and Provincial Game Preserve regulations.

The lure crop in the Wascana East area has helped ameliorate crop depredation by waterfowl on grain fields adjacent to the city limits.

Protective Status and Enforcement

Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations under the Migratory Birds Convention Act (P.C. 1954-1804, November 23, 1954; P.C. 1974-1989, September 10, 1974; P.C. 1980-2435, September 12, 1980).

The Sanctuary is also protected by Provincial Game Preserve Regulations under the Provincial Wildlife Act, and Wascana Centre Authority Regulations under the Wascana Centre Act.

Wascana Centre Police and the Regina City Police regularly patrol the area.

This text is an excerpt from "A Summary of Background Information on National Wildlife Areas in the Western and Northern Region", Canadian Wildlife Service, Western and Northern Region, November 1983.