🏞️ Saskatchewan River Delta

The Saskatchewan River Delta (SRD), also known as Cumberland Marshes, is a large alluvial delta that straddles the border of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Western Canada. Currently terminating at Cedar Lake, Manitoba, the delta is composed mainly of various types of wetlands, shallow lakes, and active and abandoned river channels bordered by forested natural levees. Sixty-five percent of the delta is occupied by vegetated wetlands, over one third of which comprise peat-forming fens and bogs. Geographically, the SRD consists of two parts – western and eastern – separated by a prominent moraine that was deposited by the Laurentide Ice Sheet during late stages of the Wisconsinan glacial epoch. These two components, commonly termed the "upper delta" and "lower delta", together occupy an area of approximately 10,000 km2 (3,900 sq mi) making the SRD one of the largest active inland deltas in North America. The broad wetland tracts of the upper delta in Saskatchewan are sometimes referred to as the Cumberland Marshes. Approximately 5% of the delta surface has been drained for agricultural use following feasibility studies by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration in the 1950s.