Buffalo Pound Lake
The Qu'Appelle River was dammed by the Buffalo Pound Dam in 1939 to control fluctuating water levels. The dam is an embankment dam approximately 1,400 metres long. A fish ladder installed in 1999-2000 allows fish to migrate in and out of the lake and new gates were installed to create a better water supply downstream. The height of the dam was also raised one metre. The problem with fluctuating water levels wasn't solved all together until the construction of the Qu'Appelle River Dam and Gardiner Dam that created Lake Diefenbaker 100 km upstream in 1967. As a result, water flow in the Qu'Appelle River now remains relatively constant. This, however, has flushed the lake out and allowed excessive algae growth due to the cleaner water which reduced the popularity of swimming and boating during the summer months, raised the cost of water treatment, and the lake still remains eutrophic, due to low oxygen levels and highly nutritious soil on the lake's bottom. Buffalo Pound is a Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) property located on the northern shore of Buffalo Pound Lake. In 2020, the NCC bought the land for $3.38-million. About 30%, or $987,000, was contributed by K+S Potash Canada offset grassland destroyed in Saskatchewan by mine construction. The rest of the money came from the Canadian and Saskatchewan governments and hundreds of private donors. The land was purchased from local cattle ranchers and cattle will continue to graze the land. The total land area of the park is 866 hectares (2,140 acres) with 7 kilometres of shoreline along the lake. It consists mostly of native grasslands and provides habitat to a variety of wildlife, including animals on Canada's "Species at Risk Act", such as the American badger, Baird’s sparrow, bobolink, northern leopard frog, and Sprague’s pipit.
NCC's Buffalo Pound
Log cabins can be rented or bought along the shores of the lake.