Zama Lake

Last updated

Zama Lake
Canada Alberta relief location map - transverse mercator proj.svg
Red pog.svg
Zama Lake
Location of Zama Lake in Alberta
Location Mackenzie County, Alberta
Coordinates 58°45′N119°05′W / 58.750°N 119.083°W / 58.750; -119.083 [1]
Primary outflows Hay River
Basin  countriesCanada
Max. length35 km (22 mi)
Max. width8 km (5.0 mi)
Surface area55 km2 (21 sq mi)
Surface elevation320 m (1,050 ft)
Settlements Zama City

Zama Lake is a large lake in Mackenzie County, in north-western Alberta, Canada.

Major Ernest Wilson Hubbell, Chief Inspector of the Dominion Land Survey, [3] recorded the name "Zammah River" in his field notes as the transliteration of the name of a Slavey Chief (Slavey Indians are now known as the Dene Tha' First Nation). The Geographic Board of Canada recorded the name "Zama River" on 4 July 1922 without explanation for the spelling change. The lake seems to be named in the same fashion and was named on 6 November 1944. The Dene Tha' do not use the name "Zama Lake", but use names in the Slavey language to identify the lake; some use K’ah Woti Túé (“Main Blind Lake” referring to a hunting blind) and others use Tulonh Mieh (“Where the Water Ends”). [4]

The lake is located approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of Rainbow Lake and 115 kilometres (71 mi) west northwest of High Level, [4] at the confluence of Zama River and Hay River. The lake covers 55 km2 (21 sq mi) and forms an intricate river, lakes, and wetland system. The Hay-Zama Lakes complex is a Ramsar site for its importance to spring and fall migrating ducks and geese. As many as 250,000 ducks and geese use the lakes during the fall migration. [5]

A small hamlet, Zama City is located approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of the lake [6] and the unincorporated community of Chateh in the Hay Lake 209 Indian reserve of the Dene Tha' First Nation is also located south of the lake. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tulita</span> Hamlet in Northwest Territories, Canada

Tulita, which in Slavey means "where the rivers or waters meet," is a hamlet in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It was formerly known as Fort Norman, until 1 January 1996. It is located at the junction of the Great Bear River and the Mackenzie River; the Bear originates at Great Bear Lake adjacent to Deline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavey</span> First Nations aboriginal people of Canada

The Slavey are a First Nations indigenous peoples of the Dene group, indigenous to the Great Slave Lake region, in Canada's Northwest Territories, and extending into northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Slave Lake</span> Second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada

Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada, the deepest lake in North America at 614 m (2,014 ft), and the tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It is 469 km (291 mi) long and 20 to 203 km wide. It covers an area of 27,200 km2 (10,500 sq mi) in the southern part of the territory. Its given volume ranges from 1,070 km3 (260 cu mi) to 1,580 km3 (380 cu mi) and up to 2,088 km3 (501 cu mi) making it the 10th or 12th largest by volume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood Buffalo National Park</span> National park in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada

Wood Buffalo National Park is the largest national park of Canada at 44,741 km2 (17,275 sq mi). It is in northeastern Alberta and the southern Northwest Territories. Larger in area than Switzerland, it is the second-largest national park in the world. The park was established in 1922 to protect the world's largest herd of free-roaming wood bison. They became hybridized after the introduction of plains bison. The population is currently estimated at about 3,000. It is one of two known nesting sites of whooping cranes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chipewyan language</span> Athabaskan language spoken in northwestern Canada

Chipewyan or Dënesųłinë́, often simply called Dëne, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. It has nearly 12,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. It has official status only in the Northwest Territories, alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Tlicho, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moose River (Ontario)</span> Tributary of South shore of James Bay, flowing in North-East of Ontario, in Canada.

The Moose River is a river in the Hudson Plains ecozone of northern Ontario, Canada. The river flows 100 km northeast from the confluence of the Mattagami and Missinaibi Rivers into James Bay. Its drainage basin is 108,500 square kilometres (41,900 sq mi) and it has a mean discharge rate of 1,370 cubic metres (48,000 cu ft). Its full length is 547 kilometres (340 mi) if counted from the head of the Mattagami River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dene</span> Indigenous people in northern Canada

The Dene people are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two uses:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahtu</span> Dene First Nations ethnic group

The Sahtú or North Slavey are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. The Sahtú peoples live in Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita which form the Sahtu Region of the NWT. The Dene of the region are represented by the Sahtu Dene Council who, in 1993, signed the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. Sahtú groups include the Hare Dene, Bear Lake Dene, and Mountain Dene. They call themselves also Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨ne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peace–Athabasca Delta</span> River delta in Northeast Alberta

The Peace–Athabasca Delta, located in northeast Alberta, is the largest freshwater inland river delta in North America. It is located partially within the southeast corner of Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada's largest national park, and also spreads into the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, west and south of the historical community of Fort Chipewyan. The delta encompasses approximately 321,200 ha, formed where the Peace and Athabasca rivers converge on the Slave River and Lake Athabasca. The delta region is designated a wetland of international importance and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The region is large enough that it is considered one of twenty distinct natural subregions of Alberta by the provincial government's Natural Regions Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slave River</span> River in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada

The Slave River is a Canadian river that flows from the confluence of the Rivière des Rochers and Peace River in northeastern Alberta and runs into Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. The river's name is thought to derive from the name for the Slavey group of the Dene First Nations, Deh Gah Gotʼine, in the Athabaskan languages. The Chipewyan had displaced other native people from this region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Level</span> Town in Alberta, Canada

High Level is a town in northern Alberta, Canada. It is located at the intersection of the Mackenzie Highway and Highway 58, approximately 733 kilometres (455 mi) north of Edmonton and 725 km (450 mi) south of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. High Level is located within Mackenzie County and was founded in 1947. The town serves a trading area of approximately 20,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Division No. 17, Alberta</span> Census division in Alberta, Canada

Division No. 17 is a census division in Alberta, Canada. It spans the central and northwest portions of northern Alberta and its largest urban community is the Town of Slave Lake. Division No. 17 is the largest census division in Alberta according to area and also has the lowest population density.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hay River (Canada)</span> River in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada

The Hay River is a large river in northern Alberta and southern Northwest Territories, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bistcho Lake</span> Lake in Alberta, Canada

Bistcho Lake is a large lake in northwestern Alberta, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petitot River</span> Right tributary of the Liard River in Canada

Petitot is a river in northern Alberta and British Columbia, as well as in southern Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is a tributary of the Liard River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dene Tha' First Nation</span>

The Dene TháFirst Nation is a First Nations government of the South Slavey in Northern Alberta, Canada. The people call themselves Dene Dháa or 'Ordinary People' in the Dene Dháh language. Its population is centered primarily in three communities: Bushe River, Meander River, and Chateh, but approximately 600 members who live off-reserve. Dene Thá First Nation is Treaty 8 nation and a member of the North Peace Tribal Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sahtu Region</span> Administrative region in Northwest Territories, Canada

The Sahtu Region is an administrative region in Canada's Northwest Territories. Coterminous with the settlement region described in the 1993 Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, 41,437 km2 (15,999 sq mi) of the Sahtu is collectively owned by its Indigenous Sahtu (Dene) and Métis inhabitants. Although the region's population is predominantly First Nations, a significant non-Indigenous presence exists in Norman Wells, the regional office, established in 1920 to serve the only producing oilfield in the Canadian Territories. Considered to be of vital strategic importance during World War II in the event of a Japanese invasion of Alaska, the region's petroleum resources were exploited by the United States Army with the Canol pipeline, but the project never became necessary and ultimately operated for less than one year.

Hay River Reserve is one of only three Indian reserves in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in the South Slave Region, it is a Slavey community with a population of 259, of which the majority are First Nations and some Métis, at the 2021 Canadian census, a 16.2% decrease from the 2016 census. The main languages on the reserve are South Slavey, and English. In 2017 the Government of the Northwest Territories reported that the population was 329, resulting in an average annual growth rate of 0.4% between 2007 and 2017.

Hay-Zama Lakes is a 586-square-kilometre (226 sq mi) inland wetland and wildland park in northwestern Alberta, Canada. It was designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance on May 24, 1982, and is recognized as an Important Bird Area. It "constitutes one of the most extensive sedge wetlands in western North America".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hay Lake 209</span> Indian reserve in Dene Tha

Hay Lake 209 is an Indian reserve of the Dene Tha' First Nation in Alberta, located within Mackenzie County. It is 100 km (62 mi) northwest of High Level. In the 2016 Canadian Census, it recorded a population of 883 living in 247 of its 277 total private dwellings.

References

  1. "Zama Lake". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  2. "Zama Lake". Geographical Names Data Base . Natural Resources Canada.
  3. Greene, B.M. (1912). "Hubbell, Major Ernest Wilson". Who's Who and Why. Ottawa: International Press. p. 1213.
  4. 1 2 Kelland, Ron (21 August 2012). "Zama". RETROactive. Historic Resources Management Branch of Alberta Culture, Multiculturalism, and Status of Women.
  5. "Hay-Zama Lakes - Ramsar Site". Environment Canada . Retrieved 3 September 2007.
  6. Zama City.ca
  7. "First Nation Detail". Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada . Government of Canada. 9 April 2019.