Saskatoon Island Provincial Park, Provincial park near Grande Prairie, Canada
Saskatoon Island Provincial Park occupies a spit of land on the south shore of Saskatoon Lake, 20 km west of Grande Prairie, dividing the lake into two sections. The former island, now joined to the shore since water levels dropped in 1919, holds 4.2 km of hiking trails, 1.2 km of them wheelchair-accessible. A 103-unit campground with 55 electrical hook-ups and a day-use area with fire pits and picnic tables line the lakeshore.
The park was established on 21 November 1932 on the spit dividing Saskatoon Lake, which had split in two when water levels dropped in 1919. The lake's name came from an island where Cree people picked saskatoon berries for pemmican; that island merged with the shore in 1919. The nearby village of Lake Saskatoon, incorporated in 1912, was abandoned after 1924 when the railway bypassed it by 9 kilometres through Wembley. The area became a federal migratory bird sanctuary in 1948.
The park is named after a large island that once sat in the middle of Saskatoon Lake, where Cree people picked saskatoon berries for pemmican. The island joined the shore when the water level dropped in 1919. Berries still ripen in early summer, and the Friends of Saskatoon Island Cooperating Association holds a swan festival each April.
Camping runs year-round, with 103 campsites and 55 electrical hook-ups. Swimming and boating are not recommended because of low water levels; a hand-launch boat dock sits on the park's northern side. Groomed cross-country ski trails cover 6.4 km in winter, and 4.2 km of hiking trails cross the former island, 1.2 km of them wheelchair-accessible.
The trumpeter swan is not a nesting species here: the park lies on its spring migration route, and the Friends of Saskatoon Island Cooperating Association holds a swan festival every April to watch the birds pass through.
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