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26-486: Southern Indian Lake is a large lake in northern Manitoba , Canada. It has an area of 2,247 square kilometres (868 sq mi) (including islands) with a surface elevation of 258 metres (846 ft). Southern Indian Lake is the fourth largest lake in Manitoba . It has a complex shoreline with many islands, long peninsulas and deep bays. The Churchill River flows through the lake. The community of South Indian Lake

52-489: A dense cover of small hairs on the bark of young branch tips, an often darker reddish-brown bark, shorter needles, smaller and rounder cones, and a preference for wetter lowland areas. Numerous differences in details of its needle and pollen morphology also exist but require careful microscopic examination to detect. From true firs, such as Abies balsamea (balsam fir), it differs in having pendulous cones, persistent woody leaf-bases, and four-angled needles, arranged all round

78-550: A gravel road, begins at Leaf Rapids on PR 391 (also a gravel road), running 219.1 kilometres (136.1 mi) northeast to its terminus at South Indian Lake. The nearest city, Thompson, is 436 kilometres (271 mi) by road. The Churchill River Diversion of the Nelson River Hydroelectric Project diverts part of the Churchill River at Missi Falls, the natural outflow of Southern Indian Lake, south into

104-406: A natural fire ecology , perpetuates numerous successional communities. Throughout boreal North America , Betula papyrifera (paper birch) and Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen) are successional hardwoods that frequently invade burns in black spruce. Black spruce typically seeds in promptly after fire, and with the continued absence of fire, eventually dominates the hardwoods. Black spruce

130-610: A provincial park designated as such under The Provincial Parks Act ; (d) a municipality or local government district; or (e) any area prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council as not being within northern Manitoba for the purposes of this Act. For marketing purposes, Travel Manitoba considers Northern Manitoba to encompass everything north of the 53rd parallel . In contrast, the Look North economic development agency defines

156-455: A total population of 40,572. The largest of these are Norway House 17 and Peguis 1B . The following communities are within the northern Manitoba area: Northern Manitoba is accessed by two Provincial Trunk Highways: PTH 10 to Flin Flon and PTH 6 to Thompson, as well as a network of smaller roads. These are extended in the winter by an additional network of winter roads . Northern Manitoba

182-402: A trunk 15–50 cm (6–20 in) diameter at maturity, though occasional specimens can reach 30 m (98 ft) tall and 60 cm (24 in) diameter. The bark is thin, scaly, and greyish brown. The leaves are needle-like, 6–15 mm ( 1 ⁄ 4 – 9 ⁄ 16  in) long, stiff, four-sided, dark bluish green on the upper sides, paler glaucous green below. The cones are

208-471: Is a dwarf form which has gained the Royal Horticultural Society 's Award of Garden Merit . Picea mariana is known to hybridize with Serbian spruce, Picea omorika . The hybrid is Picea machala , and hybrids with Sitka spruce are known as well. Black spruce is the provincial tree of Newfoundland and Labrador . The timber is of low value due to the small size of the trees, but it

234-724: Is a pioneer that invades the sphagnum mat in filled-lake bogs, though often preceded slightly by Larix laricina (tamarack). Black spruce frequently out-competes shade-intolerant tamarack in the course of bog succession. However, as the peat soil is gradually elevated by the accumulation of organic matter, and the fertility of the site improves, balsam fir and northern white cedar ( Thuja occidentalis ) eventually replace black spruce and tamarack. On drier sites following fires, black spruce can take over stands of faster growing jack pine ( Pinus banksiana ) by virtue of its ability to grow in partially shaded conditions which inhibit pine seedlings. But black spruce seedlings are themselves intolerant to

260-408: Is composed of four census divisions : 19 and 21–23. Its total population according to the 2016 Census of population was 89,637, 7.0% of Manitoba's total population. The largest municipality is the city of Thompson . Other major population centres include the city of Flin Flon and the town of The Pas . Indian reserves comprise more than 49% of the region's population. There are 54 reserves with

286-794: Is covered by large extents of stunted Black Spruce dominant forest, with association of Tamarack . There are several mammals in the region including the Arctic fox , Beluga whale and Polar bear . The Polar bear has a significant denning area within the Wapusk National Park , from which annual bear migrations to Hudson Bay are made. A single national park, Wapusk National Park ; a provincial forest, Cormorant Provincial Forest ; several ecological reserves; and more than twenty provincial Parks are located in Northern Manitoba. The major economic activities are mining and tourism . The region

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312-618: Is located on the southeast shore, about 130 kilometres (81 mi) (by air) north of the city of Thompson . It had a population of 767 in 2011 and is the main settlement of the O-Pipon-Na-Piwin Cree Nation , a First Nations band government . Southern Indian Lake is on the Fidler map of 1814. The lake and the settlement are accessed by the South Indian Lake Airport and Manitoba Provincial Road 493 (PR 493). PR 493,

338-518: Is no universally accepted definition of Northern Manitoba, but the most detailed description is provided by the Manitoba Indigenous and Northern Relations Department: "Northern Manitoba" means all that part of Manitoba north of the northern boundary of Township 21 that is not included in (a) a wildlife management area or refuge designated as such under The Wildlife Act ; (b) a provincial forest designated as such under The Forest Act ; (c)

364-575: Is served by a single rail line running north from Winnipeg, via eastern Saskatchewan. The Canadian National Railway operates the line as far as The Pas . At The Pas, the line splits into branches. The Keewatin Railway Company owns the branch connecting The Pas to Pukatawagan , while the Hudson Bay Railway operates a cargo-only branch to Flin Flon and a mixed-use branch connecting to Churchill . All rail service between The Pas and Churchill

390-406: Is tolerant of nutrient-poor soils, and is commonly found on poorly drained acidic peatlands . It is considered a climax species over most of its range; however, some ecologists question whether black spruce forests truly attain climax because fires usually occur at 50 to 150 year intervals, while "stable" conditions may not be attained for several hundred years. The frequent fire return interval,

416-540: The Great Lakes region it is most abundant in peat bogs and swamps, also on transitional sites between peatlands and uplands. In these areas it is rare on uplands, except in isolated areas of northern Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan . Most stands are even-aged due to frequent fire intervals in black spruce forests. It commonly grows in pure stands on organic soils and in mixed stands on mineral soils. It

442-635: The Rat River branch of the Burntwood River . The control dam at Missi Falls (Missi Falls Control Structure) raised the lake level 3 metres. An artificial outflow channel (South Bay Diversion Channel) was also created from South Bay of Southern Indian Lake to Issett Lake. The dam at Notigi (Notigi Control Structure) on the Rat River controls the flow to the Nelson River system. Northern Manitoba There

468-515: The black spruce , is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family . It is widespread across Canada , found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories . It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador and is that province's most numerous tree. The range of the black spruce extends into northern parts of the United States : in Alaska , the Great Lakes region , and

494-712: The North as consisting of Statistics Canada's Census Divisions 19, 21, 22, and 23. There is also a defined territory of responsibility for the Northern Regional Health Authority , which excludes the town of Churchill. Northern Manitoba is mostly pristine wilderness, regardless of the exact boundaries used to define it. It is situated on the Canadian Shield and includes the province's Hudson Bay coastline. Forestry, mining and hydro-electric development are significant economic drivers with long-term consequences to

520-486: The edges toward the centre. The roots are shallow and wide spreading, resulting in susceptibility to windthrow . In the northern part of its range, ice pruned asymmetric black spruce are often seen with diminished foliage on the windward side. Tilted trees colloquially called " drunken trees " are associated with thawing of permafrost . In the southern portion of its range it is found primarily on wet organic soils, but farther north its abundance on uplands increases. In

546-525: The environment in the region. The region has a much higher proportion of Indigenous people than the rest of the province. Manitoba's northern region is mostly within the subarctic climate zone ( Köppen climate classification Dfc ). It also has some Humid Continental (Koppen Dfb) areas in the south. This region features long and extremely cold winters and brief, warm summers with little precipitation. Overnight temperatures as low as −40 °C (−40 °F) occur on several days each winter. This region

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572-598: The low light and low moisture conditions under mature spruce stands. Balsam fir and northern white cedar, both more understory-tolerant species with deeper taproots, survive and eventually succeed the spruce in the absence of fire. The spruce budworm , a moth larva, causes defoliation, which kills trees if it occurs several years in a row, though black spruce is less susceptible than white spruce or balsam fir. Trees most at risk are those growing with balsam fir and white spruce. Numerous cultivars have been selected for use in parks and gardens. The cultivar P. mariana 'Nana'

598-495: The shoots. Due to the large difference between heartwood and sapwood moisture content, it is easy to distinguish these two wood characteristics in ultrasound images, which are widely used as a nondestructive technique to assess the internal condition of the tree and avoid useless log breakdown. Older taxonomic synonyms include A. mariana , P. brevifolia , or P. nigra . Growth varies with site quality. In swamp and muskeg it shows progressively slower growth rates from

624-523: The smallest of all of the spruces, 1.5–4 cm ( 1 ⁄ 2 – 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) long and 1–2 cm ( 1 ⁄ 2 – 3 ⁄ 4  in) broad, spindle-shaped to nearly round, dark purple ripening red-brown, produced in dense clusters in the upper crown, opening at maturity but persisting for several years. Natural hybridization occurs regularly with the closely related P. rubens (red spruce), and very rarely with P. glauca (white spruce). It differs from P. glauca in having

650-544: The upper Northeast . It is a frequent part of the biome known as taiga or boreal forest. The Latin specific epithet mariana means "of the Virgin Mary". P. mariana is a slow-growing, small upright evergreen coniferous tree (rarely a shrub ), having a straight trunk with little taper, a scruffy habit, and a narrow, pointed crown of short, compact, drooping branches with upturned tips. Through much of its range it averages 5–15 m (15–50 ft) tall with

676-596: Was suspended from 2017 to 2018 due to a washout of tracks north of Amery. Via Rail passenger service operates on these lines as part of its Winnipeg–Churchill service . Air transport provides access to many northern communities with 58 airfields in the region. Calm Air and Perimeter Aviation provide scheduled passenger service into larger northern communities. Chartered bush planes land on lakes when airfields are not available. 55°10′N 95°30′W  /  55.167°N 95.500°W  / 55.167; -95.500 Black Spruce Picea mariana ,

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