Lake Nipissing

Geography and history

Lake Nipissing drains into Georgian Bay, which is a part of Lake Huron, via the French River. Lake Nipissing lies about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Algonquin Provincial Park. The French fur trader Étienne Brûlé was the first European to visit the lake in 1610. Jean Nicolet, another French trader and explorer had a "cabin and trading-house" for eight or nine years living among the Indigenous people on the shores of Lake Nipissing until 1633 when he was recalled to Quebec to become Commissary and Indian Interpreter for the "Company of the Hundred Associates." In a map dated 1776, the lake is still referred to with its French name "Lac des Sorcières".

During the American Revolutionary War, Lake Nipissing was proposed as the boundary in the instructions of the Continental Congress to John Adams, the Commissioner appointed to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain.

The first permanent European settlement on the lake dates from around 1874 with a trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company on the northwest corner in what is now Sturgeon Falls. In 1882 the North-West Mounted Police established their presence on the north east shore.

The lake contains over 40 different species of fish. Numerous sport fishing lodges dot the main shoreline and can also be found on several of Nipissing's many islands. Most anglers target walleye, smallmouth bass, muskie, and northern pike. For various reasons, largely social, numerous stocking associations are engaged in attempts to manage the lake's walleye population.

In the days of fur trade, coureur des bois and later voyageurs travelled through the lake by canoe via the Mattawa and French rivers. When the fur trade started to decline in the 1880s, logging became the main economic activity. After World War I, the primary economic activity became tourism and recreation, although logging still contributes a significant economic stimulus to the area.

Unlike most lakes in Ontario, Lake Nipissing contains two volcanic pipes, which are the Manitou Islands and Callander Bay. The volcanic pipes formed by the violent, supersonic eruption of deep-origin volcanoes. Lake Nipissing lies in the Ottawa-Bonnechere Graben, a Mesozoic era rift valley that formed 175 million years ago.

Flora and fauna

The lake is home to an abundance of flora and fauna: white pine is significant, however, broadleaf trees such as aspen, ash, birch, maple and oak predominate some of the larger islands. Juniper, sumac, scrub oak, oak ferns and poison ivy can also be found. As well as much prized fish species, Nipissing wildlife includes moose, beaver, bald eagle, ospreys and turtles.

Flora

The lakeshore and islands are densely covered with broadleaved trees. Some of the larger islands on the lake such as Garden Island are almost exclusively broadleaf with maple, oak and dogwood. Many trees species can be found on and around the lake including:

• White pine which dominates the smaller rocky islands on the lake.
• Ash (black, mountain, red and white)
• Aspen (trembling and largetooth)
• Beech
• Birch (white and yellow)
• Dogwood
• Elm
• Ironwood
• Maple (silver, striped and sugar)
• Oak (burr and red)

Fauna

Fish - the lake is famous for the plethora of fish and the sport they provide. Of the 44 fish species to be found in Lake Nipissing, the significant include:

• Northern pike
• Muskie (clear or barred and spotted)
• Walleye
• Gar
• Smallmouth bass
• Yellow perch
• Cisco or lake herring
• Whitefish
• Burbot
• two species deemed to be 'at risk' by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry; the northern brook lamprey and lake sturgeon

Mammals - Many mammals frequent the shores and islands of the lake, including:

• Moose
• Wolf
• Black bear
• Marten
• Fisher
• Red squirrel
• Chipmunk
• Beaver
• Muskrat
• Hare

Birds - These separate naturally into resident or visiting species, including:

• Bald eagle
• Osprey
• Great blue heron
• Mallard
• Gull
• Common loon
• Double crested cormorant
• Great horned owl
• Trumpeter swan

and a huge variety of ducks and geese.