Deer Lake (British Columbia)
Encyclopedia
Deer Lake is a lake in central Burnaby, British Columbia
, Canada
. Deer Lake is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna and features a number of walking trails. These trails connect the lake and its surrounding forests and fields to: a boat launch, picnic sites, a playground, washrooms, the Burnaby Art Gallery, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Burnaby Village Museum, and Century Gardens, as well as the surrounding community.
. The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts is multi-purpose community arts facility provides public exhibitions, performances, festivals, and arts classes year-round. As well, concerts and festivals are held in the park immediately south of Shadbolt Centre. Burnaby Village Museum
contains a combination of heritage and replica buildings depicting life in the region in the 1920s, and includes the vintage C. W. Parker Carousel
.
. Most of this forest, whose trees were considered particularly tall for the Lower Mainland, was logged in the first few years of the 20th century. While rainbow trout
, sculpin
, and crayfish
were likely native to Deer Lake, most of the aquatic animals are introduced species
. These invasive species include bullfrog
, painted turtle
, cutthroat trout
, ictalurid catfish and carp
.
The Legend of Deer Lake, as told by E. Pauline Johnson, is a Coast Salish
tale about a hidden waterway between False Creek
and Deer Lake. It was discovered by a young Indian, the first chief Capilano, who speared a "king" harbour seal in False Creek with his elk antler spear with western red cedar line. The seal escaped through a hidden underground creek, and he spent months looking for it by the shore. One day he was "beckoned" inland by what turned out to be the flames of a forest fire. On the shore of Deer Lake he found the remains of the seal and recovered his spear, and with it, his prowess as a hunter.
Today there is a condominium
development overlooking the lake where Oakalla Prison, a maximum security prison farm
, once existed.
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Deer Lake is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna and features a number of walking trails. These trails connect the lake and its surrounding forests and fields to: a boat launch, picnic sites, a playground, washrooms, the Burnaby Art Gallery, Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, Burnaby Village Museum, and Century Gardens, as well as the surrounding community.
Culture
The north side of Deer Lake Park, with Deer Lake at its centre, is home to several Arts and Culture destinations. The Burnaby Art Gallery, housed at Ceperley Mansion, provides access to historical and contemporary art, cares for and manages the City of Burnaby Permanent Art Collection, and is said to be a haunted houseHaunted house
A haunted house is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property...
. The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts is multi-purpose community arts facility provides public exhibitions, performances, festivals, and arts classes year-round. As well, concerts and festivals are held in the park immediately south of Shadbolt Centre. Burnaby Village Museum
Burnaby Village Museum
The Burnaby Village Museum, previously known as the Heritage Village, is an open air museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada located at Deer Lake Park. It is a reconstructed 1920s village, containing 31 full scale buildings, as well as costumed staff demonstrating traditional trades. The museum...
contains a combination of heritage and replica buildings depicting life in the region in the 1920s, and includes the vintage C. W. Parker Carousel
C. W. Parker Carousel
The C. W. Parker Carousel is a carousel built in 1912 currently operating in the Burnaby Village Museum at Deer Lake Park in Burnaby, British Columbia. The carousel was built by the C. W. Parker Company and is also known as the Parker #119 and the Burnaby Centennial Parker Carousel. The carousel...
.
Activities
Deer Lake Boat Rentals offers canoe, kayak, pedal boat, and rowboat rentals to the public during the summer months.History
Deer Lake and the surrounding park is a highly altered habitat. The vegetation natural to the area is temperate rainforest dominated by conifers such as Tsuga heterophylla, Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Thuja plicataThuja plicata
Thuja plicata, commonly called Western or pacific red cedar, giant or western arborvitae, giant cedar, or shinglewood, is a species of Thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae native to western North America...
. Most of this forest, whose trees were considered particularly tall for the Lower Mainland, was logged in the first few years of the 20th century. While rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
, sculpin
Sculpin
A Sculpin is a fish that belongs to the order Scorpaeniformes, suborder Cottoidei and superfamily Cottoidea, that contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species...
, and crayfish
Crayfish
Crayfish, crawfish, or crawdads – members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea – are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related...
were likely native to Deer Lake, most of the aquatic animals are introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
. These invasive species include bullfrog
Bullfrog
The American bullfrog , often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or “true frogs”, native to much of North America. This is a frog of larger, permanent water bodies, swamps, ponds, and lakes, where it is usually found...
, painted turtle
Painted Turtle
The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America. It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to Louisiana and northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle...
, cutthroat trout
Cutthroat trout
The cutthroat trout is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is one of the many fish species colloquially known as trout...
, ictalurid catfish and carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
.
The Legend of Deer Lake, as told by E. Pauline Johnson, is a Coast Salish
Coast Salish
Coast Salish languages are a subgroup of the Salishan language family. These languages are spoken by First Nations or Native American peoples inhabiting the territory that is now the southwest coast of British Columbia around the Strait of Georgia and Washington state around Puget Sound...
tale about a hidden waterway between False Creek
False Creek
False Creek is a short inlet in the heart of Vancouver. It separates downtown from the rest of the city. It was named by George Henry Richards during his Hydrographic survey of 1856-63. Science World is located at its eastern end and the Burrard Street Bridge crosses its western end. False Creek is...
and Deer Lake. It was discovered by a young Indian, the first chief Capilano, who speared a "king" harbour seal in False Creek with his elk antler spear with western red cedar line. The seal escaped through a hidden underground creek, and he spent months looking for it by the shore. One day he was "beckoned" inland by what turned out to be the flames of a forest fire. On the shore of Deer Lake he found the remains of the seal and recovered his spear, and with it, his prowess as a hunter.
Today there is a condominium
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
development overlooking the lake where Oakalla Prison, a maximum security prison farm
Prison farm
A prison farm is a large correctional facility where penal labor convicts are put to economical use in a 'farm' , usually for manual labour, largely in open air, such as in agriculture, logging, quarrying, etc...
, once existed.