Lake of the Islands
Lake of the Woods covers approximately 385,000 hectares; it has an average depth of 7.9 metres, and at its widest, it is 105 km from north to south, and 90 km from east to west. With over 14,000 islands, and around 104,000 kilometres of shoreline, Lake of the Woods does have a lot of land covered in trees, so the French fur traders in the area during the late 17th century can be forgiven for an error in misapplying the aboriginal name for the Lake. The native people referred to it as ‘minestic’, meaning Lake of the Islands; the French called it “Lac du Bois” – “Lake of the Woods.”

Did they decide that the area was more woodsy than full of islands? Or did they get the name confused with the aboriginal word ‘mistec’, meaning ‘woods.’, and sounding much like “minestic” – “islands.”

Ontario’s second largest inland lake, Lake of the Woods is surrounded by a region known as “Ontario’s Sunset Country”, a land of forests, rivers, rock, bog, fen, marsh and lakes typical of Canada’s Precambrian shield landscape, complete with common species including bear, wolves, deer, and moose.

Take One Glacial Lake
Lake of the Woods was born from the remnants of glacial Lake Agassiz, a massive, icy expanse of water 1,100 kilometres long and 320 kilometres wide, covering parts of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Minnesota during the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago) of the Wisconsin Glacial Age.

Named after Louis Agassiz (glacier-studying geologist born in Switzerland) in 1879, Lake Agassiz grew from backed up river waters and glacier-melt by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. As the sheet retreated over 1,000 years, the glacial lake drained, and its remnant waters created Lake of the Woods, as well as Winnipeg, Winnipegosis and Manitoba lakes.

Geologically Speaking: Lake of the Woods is located in the Superior Province of the Boreal Shield terrestrial ecozone. The rock age is Precambrian. The rock categories are volcanic (mafic and felsic) across the northern 1/3 of the region and in a smaller southeastern section; both of the volcanic areas also contain pockets of intrusive rock (tonalite) – the intrusive rock dominates the other 2/3 of the Lake of the Woods area.

One Lake – Two Ecoregions: The Lake is situated in the Boreal Shield’s ecoprovince known as Lake of the Woods. The southeastern portion is in the Rainy River ecoregion, while the rest is in the Lake of the Woods ecoregion. Both regions contain conifer and broadleaf boreal stands with a variety of over 40 tree species, including balsam fir, pine, spruce, elm, trembling aspen, Manitoba maple and willow. The timber industry is active in both areas. Plant and wildlife that live in the drier and warmer southern section of the area are typical of more western prairie and forest regions, and they include bur oak, golden-winged warblers and black-billed magpies.

Species at Risk
The Ministry of Natural Resources, Government of Ontario, lists the following species that are considered to be at risk in the Lake of the Woods region, and ranks them according to the depth of peril they face:
Special Concern - Yellow Rail, Short-eared Owl and Red-headed Woodpecker (birds), Bigmouth Buffalo and Shortjaw Cisco (fish), and Monarch (butterfly);
Threatened – Least Bittern (bird), Western Silver-leaved Aster (plant), Deepwater Sculpin (fish), and Grey Fox (mammal);
Endangered – Piping Plover (bird).

Everything’s Fishy
Migratory birds in the thousands make Lake of the Woods their summer home or vital stop along their bi-annual journey. Perhaps, like the many thousands of humans that cottage at, or travel through the area, they come for the fish. The walleye, musky, northern pike, perch, lake trout, bass and crappie are a vital ingredient in the ecology of the region. Many islands, inlets, bays, marshes and narrow channels make up Lake of the Woods, an ideal setting for sport-fishing. However, the lake does have some wide, open spaces; the biggest such area is Big Traverse Bay, in the south end.