Townsend Lake | |
---|---|
Location | Porcupine Hills Provincial Park, Saskatchewan |
Coordinates | 52°28′58″N 101°44′19″W / 52.4828°N 101.7385°W |
Catchment area | Woody River |
Basin countries | Canada |
Surface area | 173.5 ha (429 acres) |
Max. depth | 10.4 m (34 ft) |
Shore length1 | 7.2 km (4.5 mi) |
Surface elevation | 691 m (2,267 ft) |
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. |
Townsend Lake [1] is a lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is located in the east-central part of the province in the Porcupine Hills and Porcupine Provincial Forest. The lake is in the Woody River Block of Porcupine Hills Provincial Park. [2] Highway 980 provides access to the east side of the lake and its amenities. [3] [4] Several small creeks feed into the lake from the surrounding hills, lakes, and muskeg. The outflow is a short river at the eastern end of the lake that flows into the western end of Woody Lake. [5]
The lake is named in memory of Flight Sergeant Robert Wilfred Ernest Townsend who died fighting in World War II on 29 July 1944. [6] Since 1947 Saskatchewan started naming lakes after fallen soldiers and now there are more than 4,000 such lakes in the province. [7] [8]
Prior to the formation of Porcupine Hills Provincial Park in 2018, the parkland around Townsend Lake was a provincial recreation site called Woody River Recreation Site. The recreation site has a campground with 33 campsites, a boat launch, two fish cleaning stations, and a picnic area. [9] [10]
Moose Range Lodge, located on the northern shore of the lake, is an outfitters with modern cabins, boat rentals, fuel, and a restaurant. In the winter, the lodge is the centre for snowmobiling in the park. [11] [12]
Fish commonly found in the lake include walleye, perch, and northern pike. [13] [14]